Love Like This
by Angel Ballet
Summary: Ryoma had a feeling this girl was going to end up causing him much grief if he didn't deal with her now. He didn't mean to fall in so deep, it just... Happened. //Ryoma x OC
1. Again And Again

_Love Like This_ is a Korean song by SS501, in case anyone was wondering. :3

This is a Ryoma x OC fic, if you don't like OCs... Uhm, this is an OC fic, so decide what you will.

And I strongly dislike you, opening sequence, why won't you just set up like how I set you up instead of squishing together...

* * *

**.x.** _Love Like This_ **.x. **

_Love Like This © Angel Ballet_

_Prince of Tennis © Takeshi Konomi_

_Chapter One: Again And Again_

* * *

"_Love, So Love, True Love, One Love."_

* * *

"Ryoma Echizen."

Almost immediately, I turned to glare at him, the new student that just entered the Seishun High School, classroom A-2, which Gods forbid, happens to be my homeroom.

He was good-looking, stuck-up, and he was already a regular on the tennis team. Oh yeah, he's from America and he's filthy rich, another reason why an average person should be jealous and dislike him on the spot.

To top off the sundae, I was in a horrible mood, blame the horrible cramming and those tests, argh! And in my current mood, everyone looked like they had horns and a devil's tail, but this guy was beyond getting on my nerves. Stupid rich people and their aura of pride… One look, one glance, and you could tell how pampered and spoiled the kid was.

"You can have a seat next to Miharu Misora-chan," The usually grumpy, red haired, homeroom teacher, Akira-sensei told him ever so sweetly.

What did this guy do? Use his rich-people magical powers and somehow get the strictest teacher alive on his side? How in all the living was the humanely possible?

The new kid calmly shoved his hands in his school uniform pockets and examined us, the student body, looking for whoever Miharu was.

It took me a nanosecond to remember my name; _Miharu._

The usually bipolar Akira-sensei glared at me intensely as she barked," Be polite and raise your hand, Miharu. Ryoma-kun doesn't know where or who you are."

I paused; and slowly raised my hand with my usual dumb look gaping on my face. _So she calls me dumb…_

Using the fake sweetness in her voice, she laughed. "I apologize, Ryoma-kun, Haru-chan lacks proper etiquette."

I inwardly rolled my eyes at her pointless insult. Really, she's done better before. At least don't say 'Ryoma-kun' in such a creepy, ga-ga voice.

Akira-sensei smiled at the transfer student again. "Please, have a sit."

The transfer student looked over at my direction, or actually, my raised hand in particular. An unreadable, perfect masked expression slathered over his charming facial features.

Damn, he was cute too.

He walked through the rows of perfectly lined students and sat in the unoccupied desk next to me without changing his bored facial expression and listened to the rest of Akira-sensei's directions.

Impressive; I've never met someone who wasn't the slightest bit nervous on his first day.

I tried my best to ignore the transfer student, it was normal after all, getting transfer students during the middle of the year.

Right, nothing special. It was _completely_ normal.

"Echizen-kun? What's your next class?" Akira-sensei asked tenderly as she put a motherly smile on her demon-disguised face.

Without looking up from whatever worksheet he was working on, he replied, "Calculus with Himawari-sensei."

I inwardly groaned. _Lovely, that's my next class too… _Just because he's cute didn't mean I want him around me! Why wasn't the dear lord ever on my side?

Then Akira-sensei smiled at me. _Me._ A sweet, clever, sly smile that would give any normal person a million years of nightmares.

"Miharu-chan? Why don't you be a dear and take Ryoma-kun to his next class? You have Calculus, too right?" she asked politely, even though I knew it was fake.

I raised an eyebrow very delicately. "Excuse me?"

The red haired sensei frowned innocently. "Is there a problem?"

I suppressed a groan, _I would get detention if I rejected, and God forbid that_. "No, sensei."

She smirked and left me to whatever work I was previously working on.

He was just a new student… Why was everyone acting like it was the end of the world if someone mistreated him?

I sighed very quietly, and turned back to my worksheet. It was something about paradoxes and some _Romeo and Juliet_ excerpt. It was a shame I didn't pay attention to the so called tragic love story earlier… _Before_ the transfer student came.

The entire female population in my class all shot glares at me. Surprise, one day they're my friends, the second, they hate me more than hell itself. Thought I couldn't exactly blame them…

I inwardly shrugged; there was no point in chasing someone as great as Echizen. Sure, I didn't know him at all, but just hearing the rumors about him make chills go down your spine… He was just about the closest thing anyone could get to perfection.

I pressed my elbow on the desktop and leaned on my palm to take a small peek at him through my bangs.

To my surprise, he was sitting at his desk with his arms crossed staring back at me.

Oh, stupid, stupid, unreadable expressions…

"What was your name again?" he asked, quietly, the same unreadable expression on his face, need I say.

I brushed my bangs away, no use in hiding my gaze anymore. "Miharu Sasuki."

He made a slightly nodding motion and continued filling his worksheets.

Then, there was silence. Our pitiful excuse of a conversation ended.

God dearest, this moment could probably not get any more awkward.

It would probably be a rather stupid idea to ask the transferred student his name, especially since I already knew what it was and he had just introduced himself earlier… But, what else was there to talk about with this guy? Maybe, not talking at all would be better.

So, I continued with _Romeo and Juliet _and apparently, the transfer student did too.

But every once in a while, I'd peek through my bangs to see that unreadable (cute, hot, captivating, beautiful…) face.

My day just couldn't get better, could it?

* * *

I take that back… My day did, in fact, get much worse.

To my pleasant surprise, the bell rang to dismiss Homeroom class _much_ earlier than I expected.

I got none of my _Romeo and Juliet_ done.

Cursing silently for not paying attention when the class read the play, I stuffed the worksheets into my schoolbag, not bothering whether or not they were ripped in the process. I didn't know how to do them anyways.

I was just about to walk out of the classroom and head towards the Mathematics hallway when my new responsibility bombarded me.

"Miharu-chan, I think you're forgetting someone." I knew that teacher's whiney voice _anywhere._

I slowly turned back to see Akira-sensei standing closer to the transfer student than need be.

He had his arms crossed, waiting patiently for me to answer the teacher. Must I even mention his bored expression?

"Ah, yes, right this way, transfer student." I muttered, spinning on my heel back out the classroom.

Apparently, Akira-sensei still wasn't satisfied. "Miharu-chan!"

I stopped at the door. "Yes, sensei?"

"You will accompany him to his third, fourth, and fifth period class too. And the rest of the day, if he allows you to do so."

My eyes widened in surprise, my mouth gaped open in horror. _Of all luck!_

The transfer student shrugged. "Better her than no one at all."

_Damn you and your pretty face!_

I paused, more amused at his reply than shocked. "But, sensei, I-"

Akira-sensei shot me a glare. "No 'buts', Miharu."

I bit back my retort when I saw she was at patience's end. She was going to call my parents for behavior problems if this continued…

_But I have Music class! With Rikka-sensei! _

The transfer student nodded at me, expecting me to lead him somewhere.

He was lucky he was cute... And unreadable.

I suppressed my voice from groaning. "Follow me, Echizen-kun."

* * *

Now, now. It wasn't like I _didn't _want to have an extremely hot, new, foreign transfer student following me around school…

It was just, really, really, _really, _bad for my sanity.

Within second to fourth period of leading him around school, I managed to walk into the wrong class about twice and arrived late for my favorite class.

And when it was finally time for lunch, I was released by the almighty transfer student since he had to head to the front offices for further transfer instructions.

I must have looked like a total grouch when I walked to the cafeteria to buy my daily bread, 'cause my best friend was right beside me the moment I walked in with a slightly concerned expression.

"Hey, Shiori." I greeted, strolling through the lunch line, grabbing some form of bread and a can of whatever juice it was.

She strolled beside me, matching my pace in an instant. "How was your day with the transfer student?"

I paused to think. "Interesting, and I almost died."

She smiled, her features enhancing ten times more than usual with a mere smile. "That sounds like fun, Haru-chan!"

I playfully rolled my eyes at her. "I had to miss my Music class because of him, Shiori!"

We giggled and chit-chat some more before heading toward the back of the school to eat, we always ate at the same place, where it was more quiet. Near the back of the school, there was a giant cherry blossom tree, or what was left of it, but around it were benches were some other students sat as well.

As we walked closer, I saw the silhouettes of the usual students who occupied the benches there as well.

I smiled as I walked closer towards my own clique, my friends.

_This is how it's supposed to be. No transfer students, no bipolar teachers…_

"Hey, Miharu! I hear you and the transfer student are getting it going, eh?"

I paused in front my usual lunch table and whipped my head around.

Eew, it was Keiko. So much for 'walking towards my own clique.'

She sat, two tables away from Shiori and I. She sat there… Her and her stupid pretty hair…

"I was his guide for the day, if that's what you mean." I answered, remaining calm, because this wasn't a big deal. _It better not be._

Keiko smirked, much to my amusement. "Miharu, I wouldn't expect much from him if I were you…" She paused to stare at her 'girls,' so she calls them. "You'd have much competition."

I frowned. "What?"

Some girl next to her (that I didn't recognize) rolled her eyes at me. "Miharu-chan. He's absolutely gorgeous." She said, matter-of-factly, like it was the most obvious detail in the world.

Well, it kinda was. _Kind of._

I raised an eyebrow. _Of course, I thought he established that fact the moment his face appeared in front of me._

"But he's unreadable." I blurted, not really thinking about a logical answer. "And he has the same expression on his face the entire time."

Keiko shrugged. "So? Nice face, nice money, nice body… He's a foreign exchange student from the U.S. and he's already a regular's on our tennis team." She stopped and crossed her arms, then proceeded to grin at me. "It won't be long until there's a Ryoma Fan Club around here."

I crossed my arms too. "Why would I care?"

Keiko burst into spontaneous laughter. "You are _so_ going to be replaced by his new girl, whoever she is."

A frown. "Isn't that a good thing?"

To my surprise, Shiori joined in. "Haru-chan, no sane girl on campus would _not_ not like him."

Now I really wanted to run up a tree and scream.

Echizen, you aren't even here and you've ruined my already crappy social life.

"But I've really got nothing to do with him!" I complained, groaning as more people joined in the conversation. "Akira-sensei just decided to appoint me as the guide for the day!"

"Liar! Ryoma-sama was staring at you the entire day!" some artificially blonde haired girl yelled, glaring daggers at me.

I rubbed my temples. Really? _Ryoma-sama? _This has got to be a joke.

Staring at me all day? Ha, say it a bit more sarcastically and it might actually sound true. Well actually, of course he was staring at me all day, I was partically forced to guide him around campus!

"Haru-chan, let's go inside, ne?" Shiori suggested. "It's more quiet inside, I think."

I smiled gratefully at the black haired girl who just saved my sanity. "Sure, Shiori."

I picked up all the things that I had earlier thrown carelessly on the table and followed Shiori back into the cafeteria.

And I couldn't help noticing Keiko's pretty little grin on my way in.

"Haru-chan, don't worry about them, okay?" Shiori said with a sweet smile. "They're just jealous cause out of all the girls that wanted to be near the new transfer student, you were the lucky pick. It's the talk of the day."

Was it just me or the more I don't want attention, the more it comes at me?

"The talk… of Seishun?" I asked, nearly sighing.

"Yeah! Everyone is so excited to have Ryoma-kun at Seishun!"

I started at her.

'_Ryoma-kun.'_

Oh, not you too, Shiori.

"Uhm, I see…" I said back, not nearly as enthusiastic.

We entered the cafeteria, Shiori all smiles, and me… With the usual expression.

And as we entered, I really hoped I wouldn't do something stupid in front of him again. (Since I always seem to anyways.)

'Cause… There he was. Basked in the shiny faces of all the girls surrounding him while he was attempting to eat his lunch.

Sigh.

I see Echizen too much for my heart to have a normal heart rate.

"He looks like he's getting murdered." I commented, nudging Shiori's elbow.

She nodded in agreement. "You should go help him."

I recoiled and jumped back from her. "What! Why? He's got nothing to do with me!"

I could almost hear Shiori roll her eyes. "Go save your _boyfriend_, Haru-chan."

A pause. Then my mouth gaped. "How does taking him around campus make him my _boyfriend_?"

Shiori giggled before I could mutter something stupid again. "Haru-chan, here he comes!"

I could open my mouth, preparing to say something, but nothing came out as Shiori made her sweet escape.

That's when I hear his voice. _His damn husky voice._

"Sasuki."

I turned to face him. His bored expression.

He must be really bored to have the same facial expression on all day.

"Yes?"

He stared at me. Standing in front of him closer than I was before, it was obvious he was quite tall as well, compared to me.

Oh, _damn, damn, body._

I raised my head slightly to meet his gaze.

_Oh hell, pretty eyes too._

Too bad I already assumed he was such the stiff, cold, and utterly _bored_ person.

"Where's my next class?"

A pause.

"Uhm." I thought for a nanosecond. "You have… Tennis?"

He crossed his arms, and stared at me patiently. "Yes."

"You need to go to the tennis courts then…?"

He stared at me with his bored (cute) expression a bit more. "I'm asking you because I don't know where that is, Sasuki."

"Oh. Ohm. Right. Follow me."

He obeyed and followed behind me closely. I couldn't help but notice they female population in the cafeteria had stars in their eyes as they watched him.

Did he not see what effect he had on us, women?

Damn you, Echizen. Wear a mask!

"Sasuki."

I very nearly, almost, flinched at the sound of _his _voice saying my name. "Hm?"

"We're at the parking lot."

A pause.

I took in my surroundings.

Let's see… Car, car, car, car…

Whoops.

Parking lot indeed…

"Right. Sorry, tennis courts are the other way."

I turned the opposite direction from where I was walking and attempted to concentrate. Echizen followed.

To my surprise, he seemed to have a rather amused look on his face.

"What?" I asked, staring back at him, curious.

He shrugged and smirked. "Nothing."

A pause. I felt myself dying to know what he was thinking behind that pretty face.

Oh, dear God.

Being around Echizen really was scarring my sanity.

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_**Reviews? :3**_


	2. Endless Moment

.x.

Happy Spring Break to those who are on Spring Break (SB)! Time for the season with all the pretty flowers and stuff, joy. (For Angel, SB = Sleep Break.) xD

**.x. **Just in case no one knows, (No one knows…) _Love Like This_ is actually a song by _SS501_, a Korean boy band. :D

**.x. **And in case anyone cares, (No one cares…) I really liked the song and the pretty Asian persons in it. Definitely check out the MV on YouTube when you have a chance! :3

* * *

**.x.** _Love Like This_ **.x.**

…"_more than just star-crossed"…_

_Love Like This © Angel Ballet_

_Prince of Tennis © Takeshi Konomi_

_Chapter Two: Endless Moment_

* * *

"_Be Yourself; Everyone Else is Already Taken." –Oscar Wilde_

* * *

_Previously…_

I turned the opposite direction from where I was walking and attempted to concentrate. Echizen followed.

To my surprise, he seemed to have a rather amused look on his face.

"What?" I asked, staring back at him, curious.

He shrugged and smirked. "Nothing."

A pause. I felt myself dying to know what he was thinking behind that pretty face.

Oh, dear God.

Being around Echizen really was scarring my sanity.

* * *

It turns out Echizen was really good at tennis.

As in, _really_ good.

I mean, I can't say I expected anything less from someone of his structure; good build, above average height, lean leg muscles…

Point proven.

But really, after I showed him where the tennis courts, I couldn't help but stay at the sidelines and watch for a _tiny_ bit. Just a peek was enough after all… School was over anyways, what could go wrong?

Apparently all the regulars on the tennis team already knew him. The moment he appeared within sight, I could hear his name being chanted by the freshmen of the squad, in particular, the females of the tennis club.

Oh, how could I ever forget how he dismissed me?

'_Thank you, Sasuki, you can go now.'_

_Frown. 'You don't need help getting home?'_

_Smirk. 'Of course not, I'm not that horrible at directions… I know where the parking lot is, at least.'_

_Glare. 'Rub it in, will ya?'_

'_I'll see you tomorrow.' Grin. 'Bye, Sasuki.'_

Jerk. Stupid, stupid jerk.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms as Echizen's accusing tone mixed with a bored face continued replaying in my head. Surprisingly, I didn't even notice that tennis practice was ending.

With a small sigh, I prepared to walk back to the classroom. It was past time to go home.

To my surprise, I saw Kaoru walking out of the tennis courts with some other tennis player wearing glasses, both completely drenched in sweat from their practice.

"I'm not drinking that concoction, Inui…" I heard Kaoru growl, or rather, hiss.

The black-haired man wearing glasses smiled. "But Kaoru, you lost. This was part of the bet."

I paused where I was to hear the conversation. I mean, _bet?_ With Kaoru?

Kaoru seemed disgusted and embarrassed at the same time, not that it was surprising or anything. "You're the one who lost, are you not keeping track?"

"But Kaoru, it was 4-5, I was the winner. Just drink the concoction."

"But I won, besides that thing can kill if you dr-"

"Cheaters never win, Kaoru."

"Inui, I said n-"

I heard a laugh tear out of my throat, catching both Kaoru and 's attention and interrupting their conversation at the same time.

Kaoru's eyes widened. "You."

I rolled my eyes, a playful smile still on my lips at their previous conversation. "Yes, me, Kaoru."

The black haired man next to him adjusted his glasses and stared at me. "Your friend, Kaoru?"

I was about to answer that we've known each other since we were toddlers, but Kaoru replied first.

"Nope, I don't know her. Let's go, Inui."

I frowned and crossed my arms. So quick to leave, was he? "Fine, Kaoru. You stupid snake-wad."

Without waiting for a reply, I dashed back to the classroom, just in time to avoid Kaoru's wrath.

"She's quite interesting." Inui commented.

Kaoru just rolled his eyes. "You'll get used to her."

"Oh? You seem to know her pretty well."

A shrug, Kaoru sighed. "Only because I've known her since we were younger. It's hard to figure out anything about her."

Inui adjusted his glasses against the bridge of his nose once again. "Meaning, she's a dull person?"

A short pause before Kaoru walked off towards the locker rooms. "No, you just don't know what she's capable of."

Inui smirked. "Was that sarcasm, Kaoru?"

"Up to what you think, Inui. You _are _the expert after all."

Inui smiled, adjusting his glasses for the n'th time; of course he was the expert. "Isn't she the one that was taking Echizen around school? It's been the talk of the day."

The two entered the locker rooms in silence.

"I didn't hear about it," Kaoru replied, sounding disinterested. Inui couldn't see the expression on Kaoru's face, or judge his tone.

"She's not ugly, Kaoru. I wasn't surprised." Inui remarked, matter-of-factly.

A silence blew through the room as Kaoru toweled off all the condensation left on his body after his practice with Inui.

It was a silence that didn't go unnoticed by Inui. "In fact, I think she likes Echizen already."

A pause.

Inui didn't really know, he really just wanted to see what kind of reaction Kaoru would have. Especially since Kaoru _never_ talked about a girl with Inui before. And since Echizen was such the intimidating person, it shouldn't take much for a girl to fall for him, right?

Much to Inui's amusement, Kaoru said nothing. Just continued with wiping his face, covering his expression at the same time.

"Kaoru…" Inui gave a creepy smile, his glasses masking his eyes, "Say something already, or else I'll think something I'm not supposed to."

Kaoru stopped wiping his face and glared at Inui with his usual glare. "Like you don't already."

Inui smile innocently. "What ever are you talking about?"

Another pause.

"It would take more." Kaoru said, wiping his elbow and arms now. "It would take more than pretty boy looks to impress Sasuki, Inui."

Inui's eyebrow rose in amusement but said nothing.

"She's hard to impress. Good-looking? Well, she'll notice, of course, what female doesn't notice?"

Kaoru paused to wipe his back by folding the towel and rubbing it across his well-toned back.

"But she's not that easy."

With that, Kaoru stuffed the drenched towel in a nearby trashcan and walked out the locker rooms, leaving Inui to deal with the baggage full of new data by himself.

That was probably the first time Inui ever heard Kaoru say so many interesting things

* * *

Sometimes, I think Kaoru's insults and his way of ignoring me is his way of saying he cares.

Sometimes, I think Kaoru does it just to hear an insult of my own directed back at him.

Sometimes, I think he's just being his usual snake-like self.

Ahh, typical Kaoru.

I turned back to glance at the fading figures of Kaoru and Inui after I left them at the tennis courts.

Who knew our tennis team was so interesting? They have to drink concoctions when they lose? Who knew…

To my amusement, I had been at the tennis courts for an hour… So much for _just_ a peek.

Stupid Echizen. It's all his fault I came here in the first place! And it's probably somehow his fault I ended up staying so late anyways.

It was getting late, the sky was orange and the sun was setting away.

Oh, beautiful, beautiful, orange sky.

I was lucky the school had such a nice view of the sky. One just had to stop by and stare at it before going on his or her merry way.

It took about two minutes or admiring the sunset did I remember I had around ten pages of homework that was stuffed in my backpack, uncompleted. But whether or not I'd be the responsible person and do it was the real question.

After around half a minute of debating, I decided I would do my homework. Partically because I didn't want to get yelled at by someone as terrifying as Akira-sensei.

And Echizen was sitting right next to me now. Oh, how him and his bored expression would judge me!

It was a shame, the weather was lovely; warm yet cool with just the right breeze. I decided to make my stroll home as slowly and relaxing as I could make it, which probably wouldn't be long since I lived about a five minute car drive from my school.

First things first; I had to run back to class and grab my jacket, I completely forgot about it! (Much thanks to Echizen.)

So, after running all through school, I was safely in front of my own classroom. The whole school was empty, it was extremely easy to get around now.

I reached for the knob in slow motion, expecting someone to walk out of the door if I didn't turn it slowly.

Instead of the usual twist and turn knob it usually was, the knob didn't budge.

_Locked…?_

There was no way; it was only an hour after school! It wasn't even raining, it was bright and orange outside! Who would lock up a classroom this early? Teachers were supposed to stay until the tennis clubs, or any sport clubs finished!

A million possible conclusions streamed through my head with inhuman speed.

_Akira-sensei._

I couldn't blame her anyways. (If she was the one…) She probably knew I would forget my jacket in the classroom…

Akira-sensei was well-known for locking the doors before schedule. It was actually surprising she wasn't fired already…

Or maybe, it was just because I had such horrible karma…

I groaned in frustration and kicked the door as hard as I could.

Pain immediately unnerved at my toes, yet the door didn't budge the slightest bit.

"Oww." I whimpered, bunny hopping around on one foot lightly.

I'll admit, that was probably the most stupid thing I've done in a while… I mean, was I really expecting the door to open?

I was so lucky no one saw me do that to the door. It would be the new talk of the school, more popular than any fan news on Echizen's personal life.

I could see it now. _Student at Seishun breaks toe kicking a classroom door._

But really, I needed my jacket. My keys were in there! How was I going to get home now? Especially with my mom at the hospital until tomorrow morning!

Frustrated, I groaned again and buried my face in my knees and wrapped my arms around them, I might as well save some energy and sit down if I was going to be at school all night. This was the best day of my life.

After a few moments of pretending to be asleep, I heard footsteps clatter softly against the stone floors. Too quiet to be heels or flip-flops, yet too loud to be sandals.

It was probably the janitor or something.

The footsteps grew louder, and finally, it stopped somewhere near me.

"What are you doing here?"

I was too out of it to recognize the voice and far too lazy to lift my face to see the person, but I did, in fact, hear his or her voice.

"The doors locked." I mumbled; my words were a fine jumbled mess thanks to the mouth that was practically shoved against my knees.

There was a silence before I heard footsteps continue walking towards me. Closer.

"I have the keys."

It took me a few more seconds to realize what the janitor had just said, but when I did, I immediately raised my head to smile and thank my savior.

"Thank y-," I paused, the smile slowly transitioning to surprise as I started at the person I had just been communicating with.

It wasn't the janitor.

It was Echizen.

Echizen in a sports hat.

Hey, he's kinda cute…

Wait, wait, no. That's not what I meant to think.

"What are you doing here?" I yelled, caught completely off-guard.

The handsome transfer student shrugged, seemingly very bored again as he dangled the classroom keys a few inches from my surprised face.

In case it wasn't obvious, Echizen just finished his tennis practice for the first day, he held a covered tennis racket in my hand with a sports bag slinging across his shoulders, and to my surprise, he, like Kaoru, was sweating quite a bit.

Echizen turned away from me and my gaping expression to the locked door with a key in his hand instead."Akira-sensei told me she had to leave early today and gave me the keys in case I had to come back to the classroom."

I frowned. _She always leaves early though…_ Then I rolled my eyes. _She basically gave her classroom to the student who just transferred here today._

Quietly, Echizen inserted the key into the bolt below the knob and with a gentle click, the door was unlocked.

"What did you forget?" Echizen asked calmly, uninterested.

It makes me wonder, if he was so uninterested, why did he even ask the question…

To my surprise (mostly shock), Echizen held the classroom door open, signaling for me to walk in before him like a gentleman.

"My jacket," I answered before walking past him into the classroom.

The moment I walked into class, I saw my jacket slung carelessly over the chair of my seat. I almost wanted to laugh at how stupid I was to just leave it there with my house keys in the pockets.

Echizen walked towards his own desk, shuffling some papers and a couple of books on his desk in the process.

I couldn't help being curious. "Did you forget something?"

He didn't answer my question as he looked through his desk, moving aside his newly obtained papers and books. Then, he carefully reached toward his chair and pulled off the backpack that was hanging on it neatly.

"This, I didn't know I was supposed to bring it to the locker rooms after school."

I laughed slightly. "Of course you are, where else do you keep it?"

Echizen shrugged but didn't bother to look at me once as he scrimmaged through his backpack _neatly_, searching for something particular.

I rolled my eyes and tugged my jacket off the chair, then I carefully dug through the pockets, checking for my keys. They weren't in my left pocket, which was where I put them this morning…

Ugh, I really was stuck at school for the day… _And_ I lost my keys, my mother was going to shoot me.

I groaned. "I can't find my keys."

Maybe it was a bad idea to tell Echizen, but I wanted some company if I was going to stay at school all night, even if it was a few last minutes with Echizen.

At first, Echizen didn't say anything, he just continued to look through this own bag, his face unreadable.

"My keys…" Echizen muttered, still zipping open and violating every section of his backpack that was possible. "They aren't here either."

My eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of a second.

Surprise, surprise? What are the chances! So I guess Echizen makes mistakes too… Now we're both stuck here!

Oh, dear God, do you love sticking me with him for as long as humanly possible? Are you planning to have us confined together after death too?

I tried my best to remain calm, but it was hard to have the same sleepy and bored expression Echizen had on all the time.

"So, um, do you remember where you put it before you went to the tennis courts?" I asked, attempting to be the slightest bit helpful, and it probably wouldn't even succeed.

I watched, mesmerized as Echizen rolled his eyes and dropped his backpack to the floor before sighing. "I should be asking you that, Miss Parking Lot."

I felt my face slightly heat up as I remembered why that was my new name; and if I must say, it was quite a mouthful. "You distracted me! And it's not like I go to the tennis courts everyday to know where exactly it was!"

Echizen smirked playfully, it was a true devil's cute smile. "How was I distracting you?"

"You… You… Ugh," I scoffed. "Forget this."

I saw him grin before I turned back around to grab my jacket.

"So what do we do?" I asked, somewhat relieved I wasn't the only one who lost their keys, spare me the embarrassment. Still, I could have re-sworn my oath to God that I put my keys in the left pocket of my jacket; it was where I put it every day.

Echizen shrugged. "How should I know? It's not like I've been to school here for more than seven hours."

I sighed quietly. "Can't you just go home though? Your parents are home, aren't they?"

"My mom isn't coming to Japan until next week, she's still packing, and she wanted me to come here earlier so I don't miss too much school work. And the only time my dad's awake is when a pretty girl's at the door, knocking."

I paused, somewhat amused that the almighty Echizen was telling me about himself and his father. "Oh."

He turned to look at me. "What about you?"

I was somewhat dreading that question. "My mom works night shift at a hospital so she can take care of my younger sister in the mornings. My older brother's in college."

A short silence.

"What about your dad?" he asked.

I bit the bottom of my lip lightly. The dad topic… I didn't tell anything about my family to anyone, only Shiori…

"He's at work," I lied.

It wasn't technically a lie. He was, in fact, at work. He was just on the other side of the world with his new wife and children. Yes, my parents were divorced. I could deal with it, but that didn't mean I wanted to talk about it, especially with Echizen.

Echizen didn't seem to notice my lie, much to my relief. "Then wait at the door until he gets home."

Hmm, how to answer that without giving too much away… "He works late."

Echizen crossed his arms and took a deep breath. "Then I guess we're stuck together for a while, hn, Miss Parking Lot?"

I glared at Echizen, who was seated near a desk near the windows, the beautiful orange sunlight glowing all around him. "Stop calling me that, it was an accident! The parking lot is near the tennis courts, you know."

Echizen smirked. "Sure, sure." Then he paused for a moment when he saw a pout at my lips as I glared at him. "Why were you at school this late anyways?"

_I was kind of watching you play tennis._

"None of your business!" I snapped.

A devastatingly handsome smile played on his perfect lips. "I saw you at the tennis courts watching me during practice."

I felt a chill crawl through my spine. "No, I wasn't! You were imagining!"

"Don't lie, I have perfect vision, I could have sworn I saw you."

I crossed my arms. "It's none of your business."

He looked amused. "A girl is stalking me and it's none of my business?"

My mouth opened, prepared to defend my pride, but no words would come out.

"Well, Sasuki, I don't mind followers, as long as they know their places and don't interfere with my life." Echizen joked playfully.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not a stalker, or a follower, I don't believe I'd ever stoop low enough to do that."

Echizen's eyes widened in amusement as he leaned his cheek into the palm of his hand.

"Besides, what's the point if everyone in the world loves you, Echizen?"

I paused before continuing. "You'll never have to fight for anything. Fighting for what you love is what makes life so entertaining, you know."

It was slightly embarrassing saying such poetic things to someone like Echizen, who would probably care less about the things that were so important to me.

"Besides," I laughed, suddenly remembering something humorous that I could inform Echizen of. "You'll get fall in love and get married so easily!"

At this point in time, I could see pure surprise hanging all over Echizen's face as he stared at me. I'm pretty sure he thought I was drunk on the sunset outside the windows where he was sitting.

"Miss Parking Lot," he asked. "Isn't that a good thing?"

I pouted slightly. "Of course not, what's the fun in that? I'd rather fall in love the hard way; through hardship, fights, and have the bond of a generation, no?"

Echizen laughed. "You've got a ways to go."

Hmm, I change my mind, Echizen might not be impossible to get along with.

I smiled back. "Do I?"

Slowly, I leaned back against my desk and stared at the sun that was still in the midst of setting.

Echizen and I had a much appreciated silence as we enjoyed the sunset, surprisingly, together.

I sighed. "I think I'll go to Shiori's house to spend the night."

Echizen turned casually to look at me. "Who?"

"My best friend, she lives close to here."

He blinked. "Oh."

I smiled and stood up, stretching my arms in the process. "Why don't you try crawling through the windows of your house or something, Echizen?"

He smirked and I could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "I'll do that."

It was a nice chat, some bonding between classmates I suppose. Echizen was his own kind of person, one of a kind indeed.

"It gets cold at night, you should head home now. Besides, if you stay any later, your new fan girls could rape you overnight." I told him, grabbing my backpack and key-less jacket in the process.

He chuckled lightly and stood up as well. "I hope that was sarcasm."

"Of course not," I retorted. "You aren't aware of the effect you have on the female gender? In case you haven't noticed, you have the ability to change their eyes to big, puffy, pink hearts."

"Maybe, but apparently you're unaffected." Echizen said teasingly.

I scoffed, I was so not unaffected, I just never showed it. "I'm leaving, Echizen, remember to lock the doors and make sure you don't leave anything else behind."

He smirked. "I should be telling you that, Miss Parking Lot."

I glared at him before walking angrily to the door. "You _need_ to stop calling me that."

"But it's true."

I pointed my index finger in his direction accusingly. "'Miss Parking Lot' doesn't make anything true; it doesn't mean anything! Everyone gets directions wrong some point in their lives!"

Echizen shrugged, going into his bored faze again. "Whatever you say."

I groaned before turning away from him. "I'm leaving."

"You said that last time but you're still here." Echizen said, yawning.

I didn't bother replying to his last comment and walked off angrily, but not before turning around one last time to make sure Echizen had locked the doors like I told him to.

He did, much to my disappointment, lock the doors… Correctly too.

Echizen noticed me staring at him with a frown on my face and smiled at me, waving one hand in the air.

"Good night, Miss Parking Lot," he called, every sound echoing down the hallways.

I just had to glare at him. Him and his pretty eyes.

"Stop calling me that, Echizen!"

I heard him laugh merrily before I stormed off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Well, that was kind-of sort-of long-ish. o.o (For me at least.) Is the POV okay? I mean, not every day you see the OC's every thought on hawt boys!

I think Ryoma was slightly OOC… Forgive me! D: (Extremely OOC at the end…) And the sudden Kaoru entrance, bleh, I don't even like Kaoru that much! Fuji & Eiji FTW! :D

Review! …Even if it is criticism or just to insult the story, as long as you don't insult Korean Bands (Super Junior, DBSK, Big Bang, etc…), I'm good. :3

So… Reviews _plaaaaawks_. :D (WTF is plawks?)

**Review _Please_. :3


	3. Super Girl

**~ .x. **I've decided I'm probably going to name the chapters after Korean Songs that I've been listening to or have been listening to. :D

**~ .x. **I hope the titles aren't too confusing. O.o;

**~ .x. **This chapter will be NOT be in Miharu's PoV, it will be in _3__rd__ person!_

**~ .x. **Oh, and extremely late update. I'll make up for it, I promise.

**

* * *

****.x.** _Love Like This_ **.x.**

--

_Love Like This__Angel Ballet_

_Prince of Tennis © __Takeshi Konomi_

_--_

_Chapter Three: Super Girl_

"_He could never see your beauty hid beneath that broken smile." – Super Junior M (Kyuhyun Cho)_

_

* * *

__Previously…_

He did, much to my disappointment, lock the doors… Correctly too.

Echizen noticed me staring at him with a frown on my face and smiled at me, waving one hand in the air.

"Good night, Miss Parking Lot," he called, every sound echoing down the hallways.

I just had to glare at him. Him and his pretty eyes.

"Stop calling me that, Echizen!"

I heard him laugh merrily before I stormed off.

* * *

**~ 3rd Person PoV**

"_No, I can't take her," the man decided, his tone was firm, there would no be arguments._

_The woman beside him stood up in fury, she would argue anyways! "Why not? I'm already taking Misayo."_

_The man stood up next to the woman as well, enraged. "Then take them both! They were both your mistakes!" he yelled impatiently._

_The woman gasped, horror coated her face, "How dare you! You can leave me and scorn me all you want, but they're your daughters! Blood-related daughters!"_

_The middle aged man smirked at the petite woman beside him in disgust, his expression was disgusted. "They're no daughters of mine, Minako, especially the blind one."_

_And then, the man left; leaving his wife and two daughters staring wide eyed at their father walking away with another woman and her own daughter._

_Speculators watched in pity as the entire Sasuki family fortune was taken away from the now single mother of two children. The young mother was stripped of her job, her money, her dignity; left with two baggages she could not throw away…_

Dreams plagued her like nightmares, if there was any difference at all. Sometimes, she couldn't tell if it was a good dream or her worst nightmare; she had grown so immune to them.

But tonight, in particular, Miharu Sasuki couldn't sleep. Even as she lay peacefully and quietly next to her best friend, Shiori, in Shiori's bedroom filled with Korean things that they both adored so much. **(A/N: Sorry, but, LOL.)**

_A short black haired girl stared at the woman weeping in front of her bed. "Mi-chan, why is momma crying?"_

"_Because daddy's gone, Misayo," the older, long, black haired girl replied with a straight face._

_The younger girl's eyes widened blankly. "Where is papa?"_

_The older girl's body stiffened, a masked expression. "Gone."_

_There was a pause. "I can't see anything, Mi-chan."_

_Tears flowed slowly down the older girls' cheek, staining her now dull, blue eyes, but she didn't say anything. But most of all, she didn't make any sound that showed any signs of distress or sadness._

_She covered her mouth with her palms, resisting the terrifying urge to scream… _

_She was careful, extremely cautious._

…_Because she didn't want to hurt her blind sister with a careless sob._

Usually at this section of the dream, Miharu woke up and stumbled aimlessly into her restroom to clear her mind and wash her face, then proceed by going back to sleep… again.

Only this time, she woke up, next to a silently snoring Shiori in a bedroom filled with posters of Asian singers that Miharu could not name to save her life.

Miharu awoke rolling her eyes at the one poster that somehow got on her nerves the most. The one with JaeJoong of DBSK winning some award that he completely deserved, much to Shiori's satisfaction, since he was, after all, her so called 'future husband' that she so desperately wanted to take claim of. Not to mention he was named the hottest guy in Asia last week…

Miharu smiled at the imaginary thought of her best friend marring Korea's number one hotshot. They would actually go along fairly well, he can speak Japanese anyways. But honestly, JaeJoong was such a woman! He could cook, clean… and still look so, _so_ hot doing it.

Maybe she was just paranoid at not being home. Not being able to even get through her door… To assure herself that her sister was safe. That her mother was okay…

She truly was so riled up that she was beginning to hallucinate her best friend with Korea's hottest man. This must have meant something.

With a long, frustrated sigh, Miharu laid back down into the warm covers and wrapped the sheets around her shoulders.

Slowly, she drifted off to a dreamless, but rather peaceful sleep.

* * *

"Haru-chan, just because you slept over at my house today doesn't mean you're not going to school."

Shiori nudged the blanketed figure lying on her Korean styled bed. Oh no, there was no way she would let her precious Haru-chan skip school like this. "Wakey, wakey, vanilla shakey!"

The girl on the bed continued sleeping like a friggin' log.

And unfortunately, Shiori had no patience for people who love sleeping, especially on her bed which was reserved for herself and her future husband, of course.

"Miharu. If you don't get up now, I'm going to start a scandal in school saying you're dating Echizen." Shiori threatened as she peeled the blankets off the sleeping girl once again.

A few seconds faster than immediately, Miharu's head shot up, her burrowed nightgown ruffled, and her hair tousled in a rather attractive way.

"You wouldn't," Miharu spat, narrowing her sapphire blue eyes at her best friend, her throat cracked with sleep.

Shiori smiled evilly. "I won't now, but you know full and well what kind of influence I have over the school."

Rolling her eyes, Miharu yawned and rubbed her nose.

"Haru-chan, you're usually a light sleeper." Shiori remarked as she rummaged through her cabinets to find wearable clothes. "Did you have a tough night or something?"

The sleepy black haired girl shrugged tiredly. "Not really, I just couldn't sleep last night. It doesn't really matter though, I fell asleep anyways."

Shiori frowned, her bed was rather comfortable, and it was reserved for JaeJoong, after all. "Well, today's Friday if it makes you feel better. And we have student council elections today, you know I'll vote for you right?"

Miharu frowned as she quickly rolled off the bed. "Oh shit."

Shiori pulled the black haired girl to her feet. "You forgot, eh?"

"I… Uh, well-" Miharu laughed nervously, scratching her cheek lightly, avoiding Shiori's accusing glare.

"-Forgot," Shiori finished for her, annoyed.

Rolling her eyes, Shiori marched the half-awake girl to her restroom.

Miharu let Shiori push her into her restroom without much struggle. "Shiori? What are you- Oh my God, no, dear God, please…"

Shiori smiled quietly. Reaching into her light blue painted drawers in next to the sink, she pulled out a rather large purple bag. Miharu had once called it the 'Purple Back That Causes Much Grief.' Honestly, Shiori didn't know why Miharu hated it so much, it was _just_ mascara… and eyeliner, blush, concealer, lip-gloss, foundation… etc?

They were going to be in here to doll Haru-chan for a while, it was a nice thing Shiori woke up early today. After all, she always had an epiphany for the perfect days.

Grinning heartily, Shiori seated her victim at the pretty little red stool facing the mirror of her bathroom.

"Now close your eyes, Miss, soon to be, Student Council Publicist."

* * *

It was pretty much decided that walking to school in Shiori's spare uniform, (A short sleeved shirt and a revealing version of the skirt that Miharu didn't know the school even made) lightly coated in makeup, with Shiori walking proudly beside her, was most likely the most embarrassing thing in her life.

Her hair was combed and straightened perfectly around her face and dangling across her shoulders in a girly style. The well-defined black eyeliner framed her sapphire blue eyes, as the mascara extinguished the lashes more than usual.

Oh, the people stared alright.

Miharu had to suppress back a groan when she realized she was actually attracting more attention now. What happened to being like wind? Wind was nice, it could blow and be unnoticeable!

"Shiori, I can't believe you did this!" Miharu hissed, throwing her hands in the air, defeated and embarrassed.

The short haired girl grinned. "You look beautiful though. This is bound to give you extra votes during the Student Council Election."

Miharu scowled, narrowing her eyes at her playful best friend. "How can I even concentrate on the election now! This is so embarrassing…"

Honestly, Shiori was proud of how the girl looked today, she had worked hard to get Miharu all dolled up. "You lost your position to Fuji-kun last year! Who knew he was trying for Publicist too."

The blue eyed girl shrugged, at that time, Miharu had no idea Fuji would be interested in the job of increasing public interest in Student Council. "He was better for the job."

Besides, she actually didn't really want the position. It was nice to have, it was something she liked, true, but it wasn't something she _had to have_.

Shiori narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Forget this, go to class and go show those fools what you can do already. There is absolutely no way I'd let all my hard work go down the drain just because you're too much of a chicken to show it off."

Miharu glared at her friend. Forget what she had said about JaeJoong earlier, Jae would most likely _die_ of her bad-temper if they got married.

"Fine, I'm going." Miharu muttered as she separated herself further from Shiori.

Her friend immediately smiled. "Good luck, Haru-chan!"

Rolling her eyes playfully at her slightly bipolar friend, Miharu walked silently towards her homeroom.

Oh, she had almost forgotten…

She would have to deal with Echizen (and his pretty face) today. How long would her stupid assignment of babysitting Echizen to his next class period everyday going to last?

That jerk seriously had such an unlikeable personality. If he really were that bored, he should just play tennis all day!

Miharu took a deep breath as she approached her classroom. The doors were wide open, there were even a few of her classmates standing near the doorways chatting with students from another class before the school bell rang.

She could tell that her own classmates were staring at her funny.

And when she walked through the classroom door and headed toward her desk, brushing past the students crowding around the door, she was surprised.

She paused. And then blinked.

Once. Twice.

Her desk, instead of being empty and dejected in it's usually corner, was now occupied by the heavenly sleeping form of Echizen.

This amused Miharu to the extreme. And she couldn't see his face.

Echizen had his arms crossed on the table with his head lying gently on top, facing the side, away from the doors.

He was _sleeping_. On. Her. Desk?

She very, _very, _quietly walked over to her desk… in the dejected corner of the classroom, completely ignoring the glares being shot behind her back by some fan girls of his lurking around in the classroom, clearly attempting to take pictures of his sleeping face expression that was cleverly covered by his arm at the moment.

She very courageously stepped on the other side of her desk to see what in the world Echizen was doing on her desk.

It obviously looked like he was sleeping, but one could never be too sure with Echizen. Besides, if he was sleeping, why on her desk!

As she carefully leaned across her desk to get a glimpse of Echizen, Miharu Sasuki wanted to burst into laughter, very, very badly.

What a sight to behold; _the_ Ryoma Echizen asleep on Miharu Sasuki's desk, lightly snoring.

Instead, Miharu calmly, with much control, stepped away from Echizen and her desk that was probably in Heaven because Echizen was lying down on its wooden top.

For a second, Miharu debated what to do with this young gentleman on her desk… asleep and snoring. Not to mention he had a recently opened Fanta drink on the floor next to his backpack which was placed at near on the floor near the Miharu's desk.

There was always the option of spilling his drink over his well-styled hair to wake him up for the rest of the day, but fortunately, Miharu wasn't that cruel.

Well then, what was she to do? Go up to him and go _Excuse me, you're in my desk _and expect him to move away politely?

With patience, Miharu delicately bent her back till she had her hands on her knees and nearly face level with Echizen's own head and gently nudged Echizen's head.

No response.

Miharu tried poking the center of this head at a second attempt.

He stirred but made no movement to lift his eyelids.

Impatiently, Miharu lightly slapped his cheek extremely lightly. It was more of a pat than anything, she was very gentle when handling children, or in this case, fully grown men that were sleeping as dead as her younger sister.

Behind her and her nudging at the sleeping male beauty, the gossip had already begun to sprout throughout the classroom from behind her. Occasionally, she heard something along the lines of, _Look at her, she's such a slut _and _Who does she think she is?_

It didn't bother her… Oh hell, of course it did! Especially since she was running for Student Council Publicist. Now all the girls were bound to vote for any other student except for her.

Frustrated, she once again faced the sleeping Echizen and began tugging at his ear. How long was this stupid boy going to sleep anyways! Why on her desk? Oh, the embarrassment!

"What are you doing?"

Miharu lifted her head only to see her childhood friend, Kaoru, staring at her awkwardly at her from behind her occupied desk.

Pouting, she delicately pointed an accusing index finger at the sleeping figure on her desk. "He's on my desk and he won't wake up. Maybe his nervous system is messed up, he's not responding to pokes and nudges."

For a slight moment, Kaoru examined his sleeping new teammate, unsure of what to say. "Well, wake him up."

Miharu scoffed and crossed her arms. "I would _love_ to do that, Kaoru."

Kaoru ignored her sarcasm, it was already immune to him, and he could hardly tell what she honestly meant these days.

"You look different," he commented instead, changing the topic.

It was hard not to miss Miharu's surprised expression. Kaoru made a note to rub an insult in when she was annoying him later on.

"Uhm, thank you," she finished, lamely, amused as Kaoru's _almost _compliment-like comment.

Ignoring the black haired girl's response, Kaoru tilted his head down and stared at Echizen. It amazed him how the tennis prodigy could sleep through this much racket with his stalkers swarming around the classroom.

"Wake up," Kaoru said, tapping his eyelids gently.

Miharu watched her snake-like friend in amusement as he repeatedly tapped Echizen's eyelids, occasionally dragging his fingers toward his forehead, only to continue tapping.

With a much delayed reaction, Miharu's eyes widened as Echizen stirred around and blinked his eyes open.

He. Was. Awake?

"Good morning," Echizen greeted, yawning, like he hadn't been sleeping at all.

Miharu immediately pointed an accusing index finger at Echizen. "You! What're you doing on my desk!"

Echizen blinked and slowly rubbed his eyes, not really caring about the complaining girl in front of him. "This is your desk?"

"No, that isn't my pencil pouch, binders, and music CDs in that desk," she sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes as the blunt stupidity this creature possessed.

Much to her annoyance, Echizen actually checked the inside of the desk. After he was pretty sure he didn't own around five stacks of CDs with some girly looking guy on them, he decided this probably wasn't the desk he was assigned to during the first day of school.

And he simply leaned back against the chair of the desk, stretched his arms and yawned. And then lazily stood up from the mistaken desk.

"Here," Echizen said, reaching under the desk to retrieve his Fanta drink.

At this, Kaoru smirked and faced Miharu. "Well, that wasn't so hard now, was it?"

The sapphire eyed girl pouted, crossing her arms in defiance. "He was not this sober when I was trying!"

"Whatever," Kaoru replied, walking to the unoccupied desk of his own, ignoring whatever comment was thrown at him afterwards.

By the time Miharu actually sat and unpacked into her own desk, they tardy bell had already rang, automatically deeming certain students late.

Her seat was warm. And hell, it was bothering her quite a bit.

Normally, Miharu would find this rather vile and disgusting. Some anonymous person's _butt heat_ like structure was seated on her chair, rubbing around. So yes, it bothered her.

In this case, Miharu was aware that a certain person was seated in this very spot moments before. Awkwardly, she couldn't feel that strange, indescribable tingle that went down her spine in the most uncomfortable way as she thought about warm, butt-heated chairs.

And to her, that was the strangest thing of all.

Life truly did work in mysterious ways. Most times which were _not_ in her favor, as proving by various Echizen incidents.

Distracted, Miharu decided to listen in on mingled conversations surrounding her, all of which were students that were patiently waiting for the homeroom teacher to arrive.

"So, the Student Council Elections are today?"

A black haired girl that Miharu slightly recognized replied back. "Yes! I can't wait to see all the candidates, I hear Kazuya is participating too!"

A scoff. "Who cares about Kazuya now? Look at Echizen! Echizen! He is the new Mr. Perfect."

Miharu blinked as the two gossiping girls glanced slyly over at Echizen, who had an English book in his hands, appearing to be reading a novel of some sort that involved tennis.

After hearing his name being whispered, Echizen directed this attention away from his book. His eyes scanned throughout the room and paused at Miharu's curious gaze, but quickly averted to the two gossiping girls.

Seeing that the said young man had noticed them staring and whispering, the two girls giggled and whispered some more to each other.

Miharu watched as Echizen seemed to smirk at the effect he had on them, and continued reading his book without a care in the world.

She narrowed her eyes, annoyed at this attitude even when he wasn't verbally expression it…

_Tell me Lord, how does he do it? And why is the teacher so late anyways?_

And as if on cue, Miharu heard the loud clanking of high heels approaching closer and closer until it was a metallic drumming.

Suddenly, the classroom door slammed open, revealing a smiling Akira-sensei wearing red high heels. Oh yes, red, the color of womanhood and devils.

"Good morning, class," she greeted sweetly, walking in the classroom with nothing but a purse at her side, not to mention her heels clanked with her.

"Good morning, Akira-sensei," the class greeted, in unison.

Miharu didn't miss the quick smile Akira-sensei passed to Echizen, who was obviously barely paying attention. Of course, he dismissed it as a whim.

"Today is Student Council Elections, you'll all be hearing presentations from various presidential candidates and electing your favorite pick." Akira-sensei informed, unaffected by Echizen's attitude.

Almost immediately, Miharu's lips pressed together into a hard line. This was the moment she had been dreading. For a position she wanted quite badly, she was getting afraid of the job beforehand.

"Hey, Miss Parking Lot." It was a mere whisper coming from behind her.

Miharu paused… Goosebumps went down her arms and spines, chilling her core.

_Ugh, that voice. Stupid sexy voices._

Turning her head around slightly, she saw Echizen leaning toward her, chin resting on his palm.

He seemed pleased that she actually responded to his genius nickname. "What are Student Council Elections?"

Miharu's eyebrow rose in surprise. "You never had those in America?"

"We did and I get the general concept, but I never really paid attention," he whispered back, avoiding the teacher's attention expertly.

The sapphire eyed girl seemed to roll her eyes. "Well, at least stating the obvious doesn't seem to bore you."

He smirked. "No, in fact, it doesn't."

Miharu ignored his reply. "Well, basically, people are trying out for positions on the Council to improve school conditions."

"That sounds boring," Echizen commented.

"To you maybe."

A pause. "Are you trying for a position?"

Miharu frowned, debating whether or not to answer his question.

"Yeah, I guess."

Another silence, Miharu could feel Echizen's stare burn through her back.

"Is that why you look different?"

Miharu blinked, surprised someone like Echizen would notice. "Yeah, it's like a popularity contest these days. Pretty people win, average people lose."

Echizen seemed amused by the information. "Well, you don't look bad. Are you going to win then?"

Miharu's eyes widened, revealing a rather attractive sapphire color.

Oh. A compliment from Echizen. Shoot her now, please.

Unfortunately, Akira-sensei heard their whispering. "Echizen-kun, is Miharu distracting you? I can move her to the corner somewhere in the back, if you like."

Of course the teacher blames her, Echizen is just too perfect, eh? Giving Echizen the option to move her towards 'the corner somewhere in the back,' how vague.

"No, we're fine. I distracted her," Echizen replied, sparing Miharu of a seat change in exchange for eternal embarrassment.

"Like always," she heard Echizen whisper, so quiet only she could hear.

As much as Miharu was tempted to whisk around and smack the intimidating man for his embarrassing answer, she couldn't, it would mean more embarrassment.

"Oh, very well then," Akira-sensei walked towards the blackboard and continued talking about the concepts of the elections and how the voting was to be functioned.

Miharu could hear Echizen smirk behind her. "Hey, Miss Parking Lot, what position are you trying for?"

Miharu narrowed her eyes in front of her, trying to pay attention to Akira-sensei instead of Echizen. She needed to hear this information if she was running for Publicist.

She was almost relieved when she couldn't hear his husky whispers from behind her for a moment.

And almost within half a minute, the relief vanished.

"I think I'll run for Historian then."

Miharu's jaw dropped. Wide.

Immediately, she whisked around her desk, facing Echizen.

"What!?" she hissed, unaware of the stares around her.

Echizen himself seemed surprised that he actually got the girl's attention and that she was now turning to face him, ignoring the teacher that was clearly at the front of the classroom.

"Sasuki. I believe I'm teaching here," Akira-sensei snapped impatiently.

Echizen watched as the girl's sapphire orbs widened in realization.

"I- Uhm, sorry."

He could not describe his amusement as he watched her expressions go from shock and disbelief, to realization, and then slowly to embarrassment as a faint blush crept across her cheeks.

He grinned and lazily raised his hand into the air. "Sorry, it was my fault again. I talked to her first."

Akira-sensei seemed to be at the limit of her patience with Miharu, although the furry was dulled by Echizen, it was still there.

"One more word out of you and you'll be transferred out of this class," Akira-sensei threatened dangerously.

Miharu nodded her head slowly, signaling she understood the consequences.

He had a feeling that she was probably _not_ going to talk to him anymore. After all, he was kinda the one who got her in trouble, but it wasn't his fault the damn girl was so damn reactive.

Echizen was pretty sure Miharu would cause him much, _much, _grief for getting her into trouble like this. Especially since she was planning to run for Student Council.

What was a position that no other position could defy?

Ryoma debated it in his head for a millisecond.

President, of course. No one could disobey that. Forget Historian, President was much more worth it!

With a smirk, his fate was decided.

Echizen Ryoma would run for Seishun Student Council President.

* * *

**~ .x. **The Chapter Title: _Super Girl_ – Super Junior M; Gotta love SuJu. 3 (There's a Chinese and Korean version.)

**~ .x. **Has anyone heard of Gackt? Well, he may as well be the most beautiful person I've ever laid my pupils upon. And his voice, ohmygoodness, sexy.

Anyways…

**~ .x.** Reviews? :3


	4. Vanilla

**~ .x. **Forgive me; blame the final exams for the long hold-up, but…

_Happy Summer Break!_

( - Sorry if your still in school, truly sorry.)

**~ .x. **Gackt-sama is retiring, expect the next few moments of life to be very dreary and depressing. If not, you are a cruel, cruel person. D:

**~ .x. **Chapter title, _Vanilla_, is a Japanese song by Gackt Camui. (Even if Vanilla's lyrics are incredibly vile.) He was the most beautiful human on earth. ):

**~ .x. **Warning: The lyrics for Vanilla are literally porn in words. So uhm, ignore the lyrics and admire the pretty Asian man who sings it instead. ;D

**~ .x.** I want a Gackt. A new desktop would be lovely as well.

**

* * *

****.x.** _Love Like This_ **.x.**

_Love Like This__Angel Ballet_

_Prince of Tennis © __Takeshi Konomi_

_Chapter Four: Vanilla_

"_You're cool like plastic. An ecologist caught in a hot glance." – Gackt _

_

* * *

__Previously…_

Echizen was pretty sure Miharu would cause him much, _much, _grief for getting her into trouble like this. Especially since she was planning to run for Student Council.

What was a position that no other position could defy?

Ryoma debated it in his head for a millisecond.

President, of course. No one could disobey that.

With a smirk, his fate was decided.

Echizen Ryoma would run for Seishun Student Council President.

* * *

In truth, Miharu was both glad and somewhat terribly angry.

Well, if one was placed in her shoes, you couldn't help but wonder, how on earth was one lucky and cursed enough to be anywhere near this handsome creature named Ryoma Echizen?

It was a question worth pondering. Was Echizen a blessing or a curse, a burden?

The Seishun Student Council Election had lasted a total of fourteen minutes and approximately thirty-two seconds; including the introductions and speeches by various students who had any to present.

It was reigned the shortest election in the history of all Japanese schools. Probably.

Beyond the nervous clattering among the candidates for separate positions, only Echizen was confident, laid-back, and completely calm.

He almost looked like he could care less about the event… Well, that's just shocking.

Miharu had no nerve to pay attention to Echizen anymore, she was petrified. Any _normal_ person would be. She was very unfortunate that she chose to be normal during this period.

_Maybe this was a bad idea, now that I think about it, I'm not exactly a confident person or a great leader, and my temper is beyond abnormal…_

She expected the worst, not only because of her newly established reputation with Echizen, but because she was not exactly the favored candidate. Ever since Fuji had graduated last year, he left the Publicist position in high favor, leaving high expectations.

Now this was where Miharu had the opportunity in deciding whether Echizen was on her side, or whatever possible side he was configuring to.

Echizen was elected President in a total of three minutes and two seconds, the obvious winner. He didn't have to do, say, act, or talk about anything. The only thing Echizen had to perform was stand in front of the voting stage, have a crowd of girls scream their support for him, and then proceed to stand near the small group of candidates that dreamed of being President, speeches, posters, wearing suits and ties…

The three minutes mainly consisted of girls screaming at the top of their lungs while the Principal counted the votes. After about 30 seconds, he determined that it just wasn't worth it and deemed Echizen the President.

Miharu thought it was almost death penalty to let Echizen win in the place of more responsible students who weren't exactly the best looking, but were always responsible and wanted the position to support the school.

Echizen did in no sane ways fit that description… He was here for the fun!

Miharu couldn't help but sigh in frustration as she watched Echizen be single-handed voted to victory. It was a peculiar, uncanny, eccentric feeling to witness the handsome transfer student stand next to the principal, victory in hand.

"Sabanuki Jin, running for Student Council Publicist is next!"

Miharu gently chewed on the bottom half of her lips self-consciously.

_Crap, they're on 'S' last names!_

Half listening to the Publicist candidate before her, half hyperventilating, Miharu skimmed through her speech quickly and silently through her head.

She was bound to be next, Gods be ready to take her to where ever was after Earth and death.

Too soon, candidate Jin's presentations of a collection of magazines to improve the school's image were over.

"Sasuki Miharu, also running for Student Council Publicist!"

Trembling with fear, or maybe it was anticipation, Miharu carefully stood up from her chair. And taking deep, somewhat controlled breaths she managed to walk to the stage where the microphone, and the crowd, _and Echizen_, stood before her.

Glancing around the crowd, she could see her best friend, Shiori and even her childhood friend, Kaoru, together. Shiori was holding posters with _Miharu for Publicist _but they had JaeJoong, Korea's hottest male's pictures on them. How contradicting.

She took a deep breath. "To better the Student Council's image throughout the school, across the other schools, maintain Student Council social events, statuses and updates…"

A pause. "That's the job of a publicist."

Miharu cracked a small smile. "It might surprise you if I say that it's an important position. Not only must you master all creative channels in your brain and use it to benefit the Council, you must always consider the opinions of students around you and somehow involve those opinions in the Council's activities."

She let another pause slip through. It was important to take her time before she completely broke down.

"Say there's a rumor scurrying around school saying you've done something vile, vulgar. This rumor has reached throughout the entire school and no one even bothers questioning the authority behind the rumor… It's only natural that no one would listen to the truth, people find it much more interesting to believe what appeals more to them – the more interesting and fun rumor.

"As Publicist, if the Student Council President is by any way threatened by outside schools during competitions, or bombarded by rumors, he or she must eliminate all of this as quickly as possible."

Another pause and Miharu caught her breath. A few people in the audience were nodding their heads in agreement. She was surprised the crowd was still awake. Her speech was truly boring, if not, even a bit off-topic. Everyone knew using long, complicated vocabulary was quite difficult.

She decided to cut her speech down a bit shorter and cut the _I want to be Publicist to help the school, so vote for me please_ lines and just finish off easy.

She opened her mouth to speak again…

…Only to be cut off by a sound of hands clapping, coming from one direction, one person.

The crowd turned to the figure that broke the silence.

Miharu stared, puzzled.

Echizen.

A smirk ever so present on that face of his, seated on a chair near the back with the Principal and a few teachers. His position was already set in stone anyways.

_What the hell was he doing!_

All Miharu needed was a _WTF'_ though bubble hanging from the top of her head to complete the image.

Only a black-haired, female teacher that sitting next to Echizen questioned his motives. "Echizen-san? Her speech isn't over yet, I assume?"

_No, it wasn't. But this is fine too._

Echizen simply crossed his arms. "I vote for her as Publicist."

A silence.

Miharu was aghast, eyes wide as moons.

An arm shot through the air with no hesitation. It was Shiori, a wide and pleasant smile on her face. "I vote Miharu."

After ten seconds that seemed to last eternities, Kaoru the Viper himself raised his hand.

"I vote for her too."

Miharu felt her jaw slack a bit. She was pretty sure her eyes couldn't get any larger.

Whispers immediately erupted throughout the crowd.

"No way! How?"

"…bet she paid them to vote for her…"

"Let's vote for her, Ryoma-sama did after all."

"…how did she get Kaoru and…"

Soon after, nearly every hand was raised in vote for Miharu's position.

The Principal laughed heartily at the student body's reaction, he rubbed the bald sides of his hair. "Well, it's settled. Majority wins. Sasuki-chan, you are the Seishun Publicist."

Confused, that she was. Surprised, that she was even more.

The last thing she saw was Echizen's smirk before being pulled into a gigantic congratulatory bear hug by Shiori, who ran bravely and directly up the stage.

* * *

"I was surprised, Haru-chan."

Miharu sighed for the tenth time during their walk home after the day's elections.

"I was too, Shiori."

"And Kaoru-kun! I never knew he had it in him to actually support you, Haru-chan!"

Miharu picked at her nails distractedly. "He's been my friend since the beginning of time, Shiori."

Shiori crossed her arms as they walked home, side by side, as usual. "But I was _surprised! _And Ryoma-sama, he basically cut off all the other candidates!"

Rolling her eyes, Miharu crossed her arms as well, not stopping. "That's exactly why I was surprised."

"You don't act like it."

A scoff. "I finished freaking out already, I'm probably somewhere in the confused stage now. I'm still not sure what exactly happened."

Shiori laughed and pat her friend on the back. "You so owe that guy. Anyways, he's your President now."

"Yay, I can't wait," Miharu cheered sarcastically.

"Oh, come on, aren't you curious as to why he would vote for you? I mean, I heard Naomi-san was also for Publicist, and you know her, she's _so_ pretty!"

Miharu didn't reply. Why did she have to? It was just Shiori babbling anyways.

"And you know Takara! Oh geez, that girl was running for Vice-President to support Echizen but no, Ryoma-sama didn't even bother clapping for her now, did he?"

Kim JaeJoong of Korea should come tour in Japan more often and take Shiori with him. Maybe the hottest male in Asia can put up with her instead of Miharu.

"Haru-chan! Are you listening?"

"Of course, Shiori." Miharu replied, not bothering to look at her friend who was clearly very excited.

Shiori grinned. "See? I knew you would make it! Look at how makeup helps the inner being!"

"Yes, yes," Miharu sighed, putting forth all effort to resist the temptation to just sprint home and lock all her doors.

Home. She hadn't been there in a few days.

She was a bit anxious to get back. What if someone was sick? She didn't even call her mother saying she would be home today! Oh, for crying out loud, her mother wasn't a patient person and she wasn't known for being concerned for her children either…

"Hey Shiori, I have to run home. I'm late for dinner, y'know?"

Shiori gave her a funny stare. "Haru-chan, its 4:30pm. School just ended and you're eating dinner?"

A pause. "Special occasion?"

Shiori frowned. Being the wise and sensitive person she was, of course she noticed Miharu was lying to her… This honestly confused her beyond all depths. Miharu had no reason to lie to her; she already knew everything that was going on in her life.

"Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow, Shiori-chan!"

Miharu turned away from Shiori, waved a small goodbye and proceeded in sprinting home.

Oh hell, her mother was going to butcher her.

* * *

Every single time Miharu approached the front of her apartment; she couldn't help but examine the door and everything behind it.

It wasn't a small apartment, but it wasn't palace-like either. It was well-suited for three people to live in and the rent was reasonable for a single working mother.

Miharu didn't exactly remember much about the house when she was a child. As a matter of fact, she couldn't really remember anything ever since her father had left through this very door.

Her mother had often times told her that her father was on a business trip; he would be back when he got his paycheck.

That was 12 whole years ago.

Miharu's father left on her birthday during kindergarten.

She was pretty sure he wasn't coming back.

There used to be many laughs and giggles, even a few tears. In her mind, a beautiful young mother cradled her five month old baby while a handsome young man in his primes would watch over his wife and child with a proud yet goofy smile.

It was hard to determine when all those times had suddenly ended.

Maybe it was the lack of proper funds to support the family the way the father wished to.

_(No, it was because he was a selfish, selfish bastard.)_

Maybe it was because he wanted a new job, so he traveled away for a while.

_(No, it was because he wanted a new woman to fool with.)_

Maybe it was because his children disappointed him.

_(No, it was because he gave birth to a female handicap he didn't approve of.)_

In simple words, Miharu had never liked her father as anything more than a figment of her memory.

Memory. Meaning she had never met him with a sane, educated, understanding mind, only an innocent five year old one. If they met again, surely things would be different?

Since when did the screaming, the crying begin? This was hard to determine as well. She had tried not to let it affect her before and honestly, it had never been a real bother. She was living a lovely, isolated life without 'the father.'

Still, of all family issues, Miharu had always wanted to be able to walk into her home and say a simple _I'm home_ and to have someone she loved greet her at the door, rather than call out _Dinner's on the table, hurry up_ from the kitchen.

Sighing, Miharu grabbed the knob to her front door and yanked it.

No movement, no budge.

It was locked.

Oh, she had horrid memories with keys and locks thanks to Echizen.

And god damnit, she had lost her keys the day before! That was why she had to stay at Shiori's house for crying out loud!

"Hello? Mom, it's me. Anyone home?"

Miharu knocked for a while until she heard stumbling footsteps.

The door immediately opened to reveal a slightly shorter, paler, and scrawnier version of Miharu wearing a cooking apron, black hair tied in a neat ponytail with contradicting messy bangs.

Her eyes were closed.

"Welcome home, nee-chan," she greeted, smiling.

Miharu smiled back. "Hello, Mekari-chan."

Her sister. Her burden. Yet, she was her everything. Well, almost. They got in arguments countless times.

"Snacks are ready, okay? Mom's out for work. She was wondering where you were but she's been so busy with her night shift at the hospital that she didn't have time to notice," the petite, black haired girl explained.

Some people concluded that the sisters were actually twins. Miharu was surprised at how they were blind to the fact that Miharu herself was at least a foot taller and a bit more tan than her blind sister. And Miharu's hair was boringly smooth and straight, Mekari's had curls at the tips, enhancing beauty.

Miharu frowned. "Mom's still at work? Has she not come home to sleep at all?"

"She has," Mekari said, turning back for the kitchen. "She left around fifteen minutes ago."

Miharu mumbled a distorted '_Ok' _and proceeded in taking her shoes off and placing them to the shoebox where all the other pairs of shoes were placed.

"Where you at Shiori-san's house last night?"

Miharu walked into the kitchen where she could see Mekari carefully and very slowly cutting vegetables.

"Yes," Miharu replied, proceeding to help her sister with dinner. "I think I lost my keys somewhere. I'll find them later though."

Mekari's frown was anything but unnoticeable. "Nee-chan, you lost your keys? You have to find it soon; someone could break in the house. Where did you last put it?"

It was almost hilarious when the younger sister self-righteously scolded the older one. Oh, how Miharu loathed those perfectionists that expected everyone to be like themselves.

"It was in my jacket," Miharu explained, rinsing a random apple she had found on the kitchen countertop.

It never ceased to surprise her… Her own blind, younger sister had the cooking ability of a professional while Miharu herself couldn't light the stove.

God was such a manipulative, irony-lover sometimes.

"I'll find it eventually," Miharu said casually, taking a bite into the ripe, red apple she had just rinsed. It would serve as a nice snack.

Mekari shook her head in disapproval; her sister could be deemed as the complete opposite of someone as refine and elegant as herself. Blindness truly was her only noticeable flaw.

Miharu chewed at her apple absent-mindedly. "I'm the Student Council Publicist now."

"Congratulations," Mekari replied blandly, not putting any emotion to the compliment. Instead, she continued delicately cutting a carrot. "I'm glad you have time for those activities."

Shrugging, Miharu exited the kitchen, leaving Mikari by herself to cook. That had become their way of life. Mekari was important, but she was not Miharu's way of life, especially when Mekari threw a fit just because Miharu didn't so something she wanted.

Besides, Miharu still had to figure out what the living gargoyles Echizen was doing during the election!

True, his interference had helped her somehow, mysteriously yet obviously win her position… But why? That was the real question.

Twisting the knob to her bedroom door, Miharu laid her backpack messily on the floor and sprawled herself lazily over her boring, plaid bed. This process was usually repeated when Miharu was in deep concentration; she found sprawling on her bed to be the center of relaxation.

And now that she was relaxed, she thought about it.

Even Kaoru had voted for her?

Echizen's interference had affected her so harshly that she forgot about Kaoru. His 'people skills' were truly astonishing.

Nibbling the apple in her hand, Miharu continued her thought process.

Perhaps she should thank Echizen? …Not likely, she would rather bombard him with questions as to why he, of all people, would help the socially awkward. Echizen did not exactly strike her as the kindest person around.

And Kaoru! That was a rather, pleasant surprise. It was hard to put into mere words. Miharu had come to realize that Kaoru was not one of many words.

What a day it had been. Even now, Miharu couldn't piece together the details. It didn't feel real, did she die earlier or something without her realizing it? Maybe she was in Heaven.

Heaven, hopefully, did not contain a certain Echizen.

Miharu rolled to her side distractedly, the apple still in her hand, half-eaten.

Maybe Echizen wasn't as crude as she had assumed? It was a rather rash impression she made of him. Still, what was any girl supposed to think when a proud, alpha male strolled into the school with females dangling from every inch of his body?

Ugh, she really couldn't get her mind off this.

She was convinced that she disliked him, but didn't hate him. He had only 'helped' her because she had been his guide for the first week of school.

Even though there were countless other females that would gladly volunteer.

…Her mind was on the verge of exploding into a million fragments of pain.

Damn Echizen. Damn Student Council. Damn Kaoru… But mostly damn Echizen.

Sighing dramatically, Miharu hopped out gently from her bed and disposed of whatever was left of the apple she had been nibbling on.

Just as Miharu was exiting her room to once again step into the kitchen to help her younger sister set up dinner, a melodic, violin tune sounded from her backpack.

Miharu immediately recognized it as her cell phone ringer, the one that she had set herself because she absolutely refused to set it under Shiori's DBSK influence. If she had, it would most likely be another one of those popular songs by Shiori's so called 'future husband.'

Walking back to her backpack that was lying carelessly on the floor, Miharu flipped the top open and unzipped the pocket, revealing an incredibly normal looking silver cell phone.

Normally, it was her mother's cell phone. Miharu herself did not own one, her life did require phone calls. If they did, Shiori would be the only one and Shiori would know to call her phone home.

In this case, Miharu had the fortune of receiving her mother's bland cell phone while she was working night shift. Not that Miharu needed it, her mom just needed a place to keep it while she was at work.

Flipping the phone open, Miharu recognized the phone number instantly through the cracks and scratches over the screen.

_Shiori._

"Hello," Miharu answered, curious. "Sasuki residence, Miharu speaking."

Miharu felt somewhat awkward adding in the last part, but this technically wasn't her phone so she might as well add that part in anyways.

"Hey, Haru-chan, I bet I know something you don't," she heard Shiori sing in a rather taunting tone. The voice in the phone sounded quite distorted compared to Shiori's normal voice, but it was, without a doubt, Shiori. Only Shiori knew every single number the Sasuki family had.

"You won't believe what I just heard from the Principal's daughter!"

Miharu rolled her eyes, obviously not interested in new gossip. "Cool."

Shiori pressed on, either not noticing Miharu's lack of interest or just choosing to ignore it. "All new student council members are required to attend a _formal_ banquet."

Funny how Shiori chose to particularly emphasize 'formal.'

"A banquet…?" Miharu repeated, a distorted, sickish feeling overwhelming her thoughts.

Shiori could already feel her friend's discomfort through the phone. "Yeah, I just heard about it myself. Apparently it's a tradition for all the new members. I hear all the official members have to at least invite one other person, whether it be a date or a friend. By the way, parents aren't allowed."

"I'll invite you, Shiori," Miharu replied, unperturbed by that fact. Whatever formal gatherings Miharu was invited to, she usually invited Shiori anyways. Not like she was invited to any. She always did her best to avoid them as much as possible.

Cheers to the socially awkward.

Still, the concept of wearing a dress never clicked in her head. They were so… Beautiful, as contrast to herself.

"Can't," Shiori retorted, somewhat apologetically. "This year's Historian, Shin whatever his last name was, asked me to go with him. Usually, I would turn down the offer since you would ask me before even considering going to something such as this, but Shin asked very politely, very JaeJoong-like and-"

"Shiori. You're going with him because he asked the way you _think_ JaeJoong would?"

There was a silence in the phone line. "Yes, basically."

Miharu paused. Was she supposed to feel betrayed by Shiori's actions or amused?

She somehow felt more amused than anything. There was no way _that_ could be the only reason. Shiori was fully dedicated to JaeJoong, her 'future husband' after all. How could a Student Council Historian whose name Shiori didn't remember waver that dedication?

"So I _have to_ invite someone?" Miharu groaned, changing the subject as the realization dawned on her.

She could hear Shiori's giggle at the other end. "It's not going to be that hard, Haru-chan. We'll doll you up and who knows, maybe you can even bribe Kaoru to go with you!"

Miharu wrinkled her nose unconsciously. Kaoru? That was as likely as Kaoru not eating lunch. "Kaoru? Oh, please."

"Haru, it's either that or invite Kari-chan. Or even better, why not ask your dear president, Ryoma-san, himself?"

Shiori immediately heard coughing on the other side of the phone line.

"What?" Shiori asked, curious. "I think you two could go. I really don't approve of anyone except Kaoru, Ryoma-san, and Kari-chan."

Miharu sighed, rubbing her temples. As always, Shiori never failed to amuse her with the blunt suggestions. Why Echizen of all people? What was with the irony? "First of all, I'm not going with my sister," a pause as Miharu thought of her blind younger sister, "It would cause… problems."

"Alright," Shiori replied, not disturbed in any way. "That eliminates one option, and since you already voiced your opinion for Kaoru, the only option is Ryoma-san."

Miharu frowned. Why were they the only three options? Why was it that everything that occurred to her revolved around Echizen?

She had known him for a week for crying out loud. There was no way to determine one's personality or even judge their actions from so little time.

Miharu didn't have an ounce of idea as to what kind of person Echizen was. How could she? The intimidating young man had proven himself to be a puzzle of the most intriguing kind.

She had no intention what so ever to solve it.

"Miharu? Are you still there?"

She blinked. "Yeah. I was just thinking about it. There's always the possibility that he's going to ask another girl."

Miharu heard Shiori sigh. "Haru-chan, he for some reason helped you achieve your position, what better way to repay the debt than to attend the banquet with him? As a friend, you know? He doesn't know any of the girls at our school and I highly doubt he'll be inviting a guy anyways."

"I said I'll think about okay, Shiori?"

A silence. "Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to let you know about it. Since you're an officer, you have to go with one other person."

"Well, thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

"And we're going dress shopping next weekend once you find out who you'll be taking, okay? The banquet's in two weeks, be ready for it."

Two weeks? Miharu inwardly groaned. "Alright. I'll talk to you tomorrow, bye."

"Bye!"

The moment Miharu heard the concluding statement; she hung up and ran over to collapse on her bed.

And she had thought that Student Council would somehow improve her life and make it the slightest bit more interesting.

Thanks to Echizen, the 'more interesting' part had been easily achieved, even if it had been in a way the Miharu herself strongly disapproved of.

What kind of manipulating person loved irony so much that they felt the need to throw in a banquet such as this?

Miharu had no experience in dancing or proper eating etiquettes. What kind of hell would be unleashed there anyways?

Now that she concentrated on it, she was actually making it a lot more dramatic than it had to be.

It wasn't like she was attracted to Echizen in any way; they hadn't known each other long enough to understand each other that way.

So what was the problem?

He had technically helped her anyways, she could repay the favor by accompanying him along a simple party that both were required to go to, no? It's not like he knew anyone else to go with… right?

Sighing, Miharu rolled over lopsided on her bed, tangling her hair in the process.

Perhaps she would think through it much more thoroughly tomorrow. Today had been much too busy for her liking.

Miharu fell asleep for the first time with no troubles of her family…

…Rather, with troubles of a certain tennis-talented, new transfer student.

* * *

Heehee, banquets are the most entertaining things to write about these days. (:

Whew, finally, long chapter to attempt to make up for slow updates. No worries, summer break is here to save the students around the world!

_Reviews? They help me burn calories and type faster. :3_


	5. Abracadabra

Late update.

Next update _will_ come sooner. -.- (Please pray for this silly fanfic writer.)

…Currently sitting on my mothers' oversized, fluffy, and comfortable bed. I'm armed with numerous pillows and giant stuffed animals and I plan to take over this bed and then proceed to type the fanfic. (Also listening to more Super Junior, baybay.)

Good times, thank you summer break. (Even if this chapter could have been posted a lot earlier, no?)

* * *

**.x.** _Love Like This_ **.x.**

_..."more than just star-crossed…"_

_Love Like This © Angel Ballet_

_Prince of Tennis © Takeshi Konomi_

_Chapter Five: Abracadabra_

* * *

"_You'll change me into something bad; like I am a puppet to you. I'll remove the spell that you've put on me again." –B.E.G (Brown Eyed Girls)_

* * *

_Previously…_

So what was the problem?

He had technically helped her anyways, she could repay the favor by accompanying him along a simple party that both were required to go to, no? It's not like he knew anyone else to go with… right?

Sighing, Miharu rolled over lopsided on her bed, tangling her hair in the process.

Perhaps she would think through it much more thoroughly tomorrow. Today had been much too busy for her liking.

Miharu fell asleep for the first time with no troubles of her family…

…Rather, with troubles of a certain tennis-talented, new transfer student.

* * *

Miharu had never really hated school as much as a normal teenager would have.

Scratch that. Yes, actually, she disliked school quite a bit actually. What was the point in waking up early in the morning to learn "education items" that would benefit in the rather more useless days of life?

Here she sat, at eleven in the afternoon, halfway through fourth period, listening to the most random lecture of all time. Of course, when was memorizing quotes from _Romeo and Juliet _going to benefit her at all throughout life? And to have Akira-sensei be teaching it, never the less.

Why couldn't school teach something useful! Miharu had a great suggestion. Perhaps schools should teach students that dancing was a pointless and utterly embarrassing exercise that has minimal muscle training. Furthermore, they should never, _never_, include dancing in a banquet. In fact, go swim, that's much more challenging.

It wasn't like Miharu had developed a deep hatred for dancing; it was more of a frustration of never learning. Dancers were beautiful, elegant. How could she possibly even attempt to learn the concepts of beauty when she could obviously care less?

Perhaps it was just a jealousy towards those pretty little girls with little pink ribbons tied into their hair that had the natural born ability to move swiftly and be able to call it elegant at first glance.

Yes, definitely jealousy.

Sighing, Miharu tapped the end of her neon blue mechanical pencil against her desk impatiently, pleading to God for the class to just end. Now.

"Sasuki-san, do you have a question?"

Miharu raised her head and the pen gripped in her hands froze immediately.

A few heads from the front of the classroom turned backwards to stare at the student who just placed herself at the center of attention.

It wasn't like Miharu had disturbed the class by tapping her pen… Why was Akira-sensei picking on her now?

"No, sensei."

Akira smirked and set her teacher's copy of _Romeo and Juliet_ on the desk. "Recite Juliet's line during the scene where she awaits Romeo's arrival at her castle during the wedding night."

Miharu paused. There was no she would remember this. Again, when was this ever going to benefit her later in life?

"I don't remember, sensei," Miharu admitted. Not like anyone in the classroom knew either.

Akira-sensei sighed dramatically. "Ryoma-san, would you please help Miharu answer the question?"

Miharu inwardly groaned. Of all people that could answer the question and then rub it in her face, Akira-sensei just _had_ to give Echizen the authority?

She didn't even watch as Echizen leaned against the back of the chair, a grin crawling to his face.

Why, oh, why did he have to transfer to Seishun?

"And when I shall die," Echizen recited, his voice was deep, captivating. "Take him and cut him up in little stars, and he will make the face of Heaven so fine that all the world will fall in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun."

Then Echizen paused and directed his attention at Akira-sensei. "Shall I continue? I believe Sasuki-san got the point already."

Akira-sensei smiled sweetly at him. "She'll do exactly as you say, Ryoma-san. Thank you for helping your classmate."

Then Akira-sensei glared at her. "Sasuki-san, you are behind on your _Romeo and Juliet_ studies."

Miharu slightly rolled her eyes. Correction, she wasn't behind, Echizen was just ahead. Ask another student that's not related to Echizen to answer that question and she would indeed receive a completely different reply.

"Perhaps Ryoma-san should tutor you after school…," Akira-sensei suggested aimlessly, making it seem like she was voicing her inner thoughts out loud by accident.

Immediately, the entire female population of the class protested relentlessly. This time, all heads turned to either glare at Miharu or gaze at Echizen's face with loving, obsessed expressions.

It was like discrimination to Miharu. She hadn't really done much to deserve all the negative attention. First her own homeroom teacher is abusing her teacher powers to tease students and now she was being harassed by female students' glares?

This was touching, really.

Thankfully, the lunch bell rang at the most convenient time to dismiss the school for lunch time.

Akira-sensei clapped her hands to release the class. "Alright, please go home and recite some more quotes that we can share with the class tomorrow. Have a nice lunch break everyone."

Miharu heard several groans as she exited the classroom, sprinting towards the lunch lines.

She forgot her lunch like the genius she was. The best option was to go buy bread. Only option after that was to go hungry.

As she reached the lunch line, a small line was already forming, but not disaster size at the moment.

Miharu smiled. She could see Kaoru's tall figure standing at the front along with Inui's.

She was _so_ going to take advantage of this situation.

"Hey, Kaoru," she called, walking towards the viper-like man and this companion.

Kaoru seemed to scowl because he looked away and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Inui ended up being the one that acknowledged her.

"Hello, Sasuki Miharu-san. It's nice to see you again."

Miharu paused. "You know my name?"

Inui adjusted his glasses. "Of course, you are a good friend of Kaoru's, no?"

"She is not," Kaoru retorted gruffly.

Both Inui and Miharu ignored his statement. "He's told you about me?"

"As a matter of fact, he-"

"Inui, shut up and go buy food," Kaoru interrupted, cutting Inui off.

Without further ado, Kaoru grabbed six different sandwiches, paid for them and walked off.

Miharu blinked. "I thought Kaoru always brought lunch? I mean, he sure eats a lot."

"We can assume he forgot it for today. I hope those tiny sandwiches will be able to hold him for tennis practice today, he is sure to be hungry later," Inui said, also grabbing a few bread rolls in the process.

Miharu grinned, grabbing a random sandwich in front of her that looked somewhat appealing. "Kaoru has amazing stamina, but he's always hungry. You should see him when he's over at my house. He actually gets along well with my sister, but only when she's cooking."

Inui laughed with her. "True, I must agree. But, what is this about your sister?"

"He used to eat dinner at my house when we were younger," Miharu answered. "My sister is the main cook of the house. And although Kaoru would never admit it, I think he adores her cooking."

Inui adjusted his glasses.

He had found more information to torture Kaoru with.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, Sasuki-san," Inui said, preparing to leave and proceed to chat with Kaoru.

"Call me Miharu, Inui-senpai."

"Ah, yes, I'll see you later then, Miharu."

Miharu waved. "Bye."

She watched until Inui left the cafeteria and giggled to herself silently.

They didn't even notice that skipped through the entire lunch line and cut them.

* * *

"U-Uhm! R-Ryoma-kun! H-Hello."

Ryoma didn't recognize the voice, he lifted his head.

A brown haired girl with twin braids cascading down her shoulders stood before him, with a rather bland flower clip in her hair.

The brown haired girl smiled sweetly, inwardly noting that _the _Ryoma Echizen had said _Hey_ to her.

"I, uhm, h-hear that e-electives from the S-Student Council are, uhm, r-required to attend a b-b-banquet."

Ryoma tried his best not to sigh and appear to be as annoyed as he was feeling.

It was lunch. This was the fourth girl that had come to ask him about the banquet. Of course he was pissed.

Taking a sip of his favorite Fanta drink, he examined the girl before him.

She was cute, if anything else; she had a shy smile and an average figure. In fact, she wouldn't be that bad of a candidate to take to the banquet.

It's not like he actually talked to any girl at the school other than Miharu. And he sure as hell wasn't bringing a guy.

He sure as hell wasn't gay.

He smirked. _That stupid Sasuki, and I thought leading me to the parking lot was the extent of her stupidity. She'll have a wonderful time being Publicist. _

"…R-Ryoma-san?"

Ryoma blinked. "Ah. What was your name?"

The girl looked hurt. "I-I'm the tennis coach's granddaughter remember? We met last week…"

Ryoma thought back a week ago, but he didn't remember anything. There was too much girls that nagged him every day.

"Sakuno Ryuzaki," the girl said, looking down at her shoes rather than facing him.

Echizen somewhat realized that he had hurt her feelings by forgetting who she was.

"Oh, I remember you now," he lied. "We _did_ meet last week, hmm?"

Immediately, the girl cheered up. "Yes! We did."

Echizen took another sip of this Fanta. "So, what did you need, Ryuzaki?"

The girl paused, turned a bright pink and started stuttering. "Uh, well, you see… I-I hear from my friend t-that y-you had a banquet… And w-well, I-I w-wanted to, well-"

"You want to invite me to my own banquet?" Ryoma asked, slightly surprised.

Sakuno blushed even more. "No, no! I wanted to ask… Well, a-are you going with a-anyone?"

Ryoma paused. Well, as of now he knew only one other girl in the school aside from Miharu.

"No, I don't think so."

He watched Sakuno smile and then blush all over again. "D-Do you t-think I c-could…"

"Go with me to the banquet?" Ryoma finished for her, rather irritated at her stuttering.

The blushing girl nodded. "Yes."

Ryoma took another sip of Fanta. "I'll think about it, Ryuzaki. The banquet isn't till two more weeks, I'm not concerned about it right now."

The girl looked crushed. "Ahh, I-I s-see…"

Ryoma inwardly sighed. He didn't enjoy playing the jerk and rejecting cute little girls like her, but he honestly had no interest in them right now.

"If you'll excuse me, Ryuzaki-san. I need to go back to the classroom." At least he was acting more polite than he was feeling.

Ryoma quickly slipped away before Sakuno had any time to question him about anything else on her mind. That could become troublesome.

Sighing, he threw away his empty can of Fanta at a nearby trash can.

There was thirty somewhat minutes of lunch left. Perhaps he would be able to take a nap somewhere quiet. Not only that, he would be able to hide from a few girls that wanted to go to the banquet. It was perfect, killing two birds with one stone.

Still, Ryoma hadn't really imagined that the banquet would be such a drag. It was never this complicated in middle school or elementary school.

Dancing? Holding hands?

Back then, all guests were required to do was just, well… Come, eat and leave.

Ryoma looked around and examined his surroundings. No trees, no benches, no shade to sleep in… There was only the Fine Arts Departments' classroom building. How dull.

Abandoning his beloved idea of taking a nap, Ryoma headed toward his classroom once again. After all, sleeping on the desk was also an option.

The day had passed swiftly and normally. Excluding the fact that Miharu had once again made herself extremely noticeable.

Ryoma had always assumed her as a dull girl. Ever since the moment they met, he had assumed that she was nothing more than a socially-awkward female student.

Her desire to become Student Council Publicist had proven him wrong.

Yawning, Ryoma returned to the classroom. He couldn't wait for a nice nap before more boring lectures and then finally, tennis.

* * *

Miharu had nowhere to sit for lunch.

It was depressing, really.

Frowning, she turned towards the muscular man wearing a yellow helmet, signifying he had authority to basically… Well, hammer things down and smashing them into pieces. "So will it be okay tomorrow, sir?"

The benches where she normally sat at with Shiori and some other students were being attacked by mean looking bulldozers and a dozen of mindless looking construction workers.

They could have at least notified the front office so an announcement could be made, that way, no students would have to waste half their lunch watching their lunch area become a garbage heap.

"Yes, now please go back to your class, we need to work," the construction manager snapped, shooing Miharu and some random boy behind her with a wave of his hand.

Miharu glared at him before turning back to the student behind her. It was the boy that sat next to Shiori when they ate lunch. What was his name again? Shigo? Seki? Shino?

He had bright blonde hair that framed his face delicately. Simply put, he was extremely beautiful and all, but he looked a bit feminine to be real.

She blinked. "Oh, hey."

The blonde haired student smiled lightly. "Hey."

And then there was a slightly awkward silence.

"So," he continued, breaking the silence. "Where's Shiori-san?"

Miharu blinked again.

Could this be the guy who asked Shiori to the banquet? He was very, uh, JaeJoong-like. And the world knew how much Shiori adored that idol.

"Shiori? I think she's in her classroom finishing up her homework or something," Miharu replied.

The nameless boy frowned. "Ah, I see. That's too bad then."

Miharu couldn't hold back her curiosity. "Are you the one taking Shiori to the banquet?"

The blonde blinked in surprise, obviously not anticipating the question, before smiling very sweetly.

Miharu had to admit, this guy would not look any less beautiful than Echizen himself. Now _that_ was a compliment of the most epic degree.

"Yes," he replied. "Has Shiori-san told you already, Sasuki-san?"

Miharu nodded, then she remembered how Shiori had forgotten the poor boy's last name. In fact, Miharu could not even remember his first name…

"What's your name again?"

He smiled, apparently not offended at all. "Kiseki Shin, I sit at your lunch table."

Oh goodness, Miharu must have been blind not to have noticed him when he sat right next to Shiori.

...Since when did Shiori like blonde men? JaeJoong had black hair, right? Wait, no… That prestigious idol dyed his hair a different color for nearly every music video released.

Either way, his name was so common that it was almost difficult to remember it. How ironic.

"I see, I'm Miharu Sasuki, call me Haru."

He chuckled. "I know your name already. Either way, we should probably get back to our classes. This place won't be fixed anytime soon."

Miharu nodded. "Alright, I better go tell Shiori on my way."

At the mention of Shiori's name, Shin smiled. "Of course, she would like to know. Anyways, I'll be heading back now."

Deciding to walk back to her own classroom, Miharu waved a quick goodbye and watched the blonde haired Student Council Historian walk back to his classroom, avoiding the construction work.

Miharu sighed.

Oh Goodness, Shiori had _taste_.

Kiseki Shin was probably the second most attractive male she had laid eyes on at Seishun.

The first was not Echizen.

It was _totally, NOT_ Echizen.

_(Keep telling yourself that.)_

* * *

It didn't take more than three seconds for Miharu to decide that going back to the classroom was the worst idea she thought of for the day.

...Why? Why you ask?

'Cause the Gods decided that Sasuki Miharu hadn't seen enough of Echizen in one lifetime and proceeded in forcing her to run into him at every possible moment.

Miharu pointed a finger at the gorgeous figure leaning on this desk. "What are you doing here!"

It took her half a second to realize that Echizen was sleeping.

Miharu sighed.

_Why him of all people?_

Very quietly, Miharu laid her bento on her desk.

Curse the fact that it was right next to Echizen!

_No matter who it is sitting next to you, you still have to eat, Haru._

And eat she shall.

It's not like Echizen was going to magically wake up from his slumber and accuse her of stalking him just because she was sitting next her eating her lunch and –

"Sasuki? What the hell are you doing here?"

Oh, of course.

"Eating," she replied, it was the truth. The blatantly obvious truth.

Miharu watched Echizen sit up from his desk, yawning.

Ignoring him, she plopped a sushi from her bento into her mouth and chewed quietly.

"Sushi? That's what you brought for lunch?" Echizen remarked, his nose twitching. Whether it was out of disgust, Miharu had no idea.

Not that she cared.

Miharu continued chewing as she reached for her backpack and pulled out her _Romeo and Juliet_ textbook.

Might as well read some more pointless romance while she ate. It would be best distraction.

"Are you actually ignoring me?"

Miharu blinked, obviously not expecting Echizen to say that.

"…No, I'm eating."

His lips twitched into a smirk. "Good, I didn't help you win the election for Publicist for you to ignore me."

A pause.

Perhaps it was time to ask Echizen his motives.

"Why did you vote for me?"

Miharu thought it was a harmless question, mainly spoken out of curiosity.

Apparently, Echizen thought otherwise.

"Should I not have?"

Miharu frowned. "Well, that's not up for me to decide."

"Sasuki, would you rather lose like you did last year?"

She flinched, and he saw it as clear as a sun in the night sky.

"Who told you that?"

As if he was going to tell her that he, himself had asked Fuji during tennis practice.

"A reliable source."

Fuji was the previous Publicist after all.

Miharu rolled her eyes. "Reliable my ass, Echizen. You've been at our school for a month, what kind of reliable are you talking about?"

"Does it matter how I figured it out? All the matters if that you're Publicist now, right?"

She pouted. He was obviously saying that because she was right.

"Anyways," Echizen interjected, changing subjects. "I hear that we're required to attend a banquet."

Miharu ignored him and continued to finish her lunch. They had at least ten minutes left of lunch.

"I'm talking to you, Sasuki," he said, irritated.

Obviously, Echizen wasn't used to anyone ever ignoring him.

Miharu could see why. As attractive as he was, he must have gotten everything he wanted.

As a matter of fact, it wasn't like she was… _unaffected. _It was more like she was trying very hard to not verbalize her opinions.

"You are aware that we are required to take a date, aren't you?"

Miharu rolled her eyes. "No, it's fine as long as we invite someone as a _guest_."

Echizen shrugged. "Same difference. Still, who are you going with, if you are at all?"

She glared at him. "Why do you care? You already have at least half the school begging to go with you!"

There was a pause before Echizen grinned. "Are you _that_ jealous?"

She blinked.

_Breathe, breathe._

"Me?"

He nodded, expecting an angry reaction.

"Jealous?"

He smirked. "That's what I said, Sasuki."

She just sighed, much to his surprise.

...And then she continued eating her bento.

"I don't particularly care for that, Echizen. You'll find out that I don't appreciate fighting for things, especially a guy like you that isn't worth it."

He blinked.

Shocked.

_Ouch._

Irritation.

_She did not just say that._

"Sasuki."

She met his glare. "You don't think I'm worth it?"

Holding his gaze, she shrugged. "You don't strike me as a worthy man, Echizen."

Ryoma wanted to laugh.

Today, a girl told him he wasn't worth it.

Worth her time.

_I'll make it worth her time._

"Go to the banquet with me then, Sasuki. As _dates._"

Immideiately, his words took effect.

...Because Miharu choked on her sushi.

Echizen watched her cough out grains of rice.

She gave a bewildered look, eyes widening in shock. "What?"

He smirked. She was rather attractive when she was surprised.

_Very pretty eyes, never noticed before._

"Echizen… You are aware that I just insulted you and said that _you weren't worth it _right?"

His eye twitched.

_Of course I am, say it again, why not._

"Not worth it to you, yes. Not to half of the school though."

Miharu was completely baffled at his logic.

"How the hell do you think I'd say yes to this lame proposal and reason? Scratch reason, you don't even have a reason!"

Echizen chuckled. "Reason? Our reasons are the same. I'm just the last person you expected to ask you, correct?"

He continued when she didn't answer. "Besides, I'm the one who helped you to your position. If you ask anyone, it might as well be me."

Miharu glared at him. "That's the most pointless reason I've ever heard of, Echizen. You're sure to sway a girl off her feet with that line."

"Well then," Echizen said, shrugging. "Consider yourself a man and get swayed off your feet already."

"Haha. Not funny, Echizen."

"I could have sworn you laughed."

"_Sarcasm._"

"Barely noticed."

Miharu rolled her eyes, clearly irritated with him now.

Honestly, he really was the last person she expected going with.

Not that she was going to agree to his lousy proposal anyways.

"If you're going to ask me, at least ask me politely," she suggested, placing the lid on her unfinished bento.

Ryoma blinked.

Did this mean she agreed to go to the banquet with him?

"Alright," he said. The task she required was easy enough. "Will you please go to the Student Council banquet with me, Sasuki?"

She paused, debating an answer.

He paused, awaiting an answer.

Then, she carefully turned towards him, facing him completely.

She smiled sweetly; a beautiful, fleeting smile that made it seem like she was a child that won a giant stuffed giraffe.

"You know what my answer for you is, Echizen_-kun?_"

He blinked, confused.

"Rejected."

* * *

Okay, so I realize this is extremely late considering how I'm on summer break and all.

I have no excuses; I've been doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and playing computer games. And well, a five-day vacation.

Still, I'm considering writing a new collaboration story with one of my long time friends, LadyShikyo to write a Vampire Knight fanfiction. If I do decide on writing it, it'll be Kaname x OC. (Only because Kaname is that beautiful.)

Oh, wait. Zero isn't half bad actually… Just a bit depressed and all. xD

_. ._

_. . . . ._

_Reviews? :3_


	6. Because I'm Stupid

What color are Ryoma's eyes? I'm just going to go with hazel…

I wonder why the title sequence is always so jacked up? It looks fine _before_ it's published. Microsoft lies! Jerks. D:

Anyways, faster update than last time haha…

**

* * *

**

**.x.** _Love Like This_ **.x.**

…"_more than just star-crossed"…_

_Love Like This © __Angel Ballet_

_Prince of Tennis © __Takeshi Konomi_

_Chapter Six: Because I'm Stupid_

"_Because I'm so stupid and such a fool, my eyes don't see nobody but you." – SS501_

_

* * *

_

_Previously…_

"Alright," he said, her request was easy enough. "Will you please go to the Student Council banquet with me, Sasuki?"

She paused, debating an answer.

He paused, awaiting an answer.

Then, she carefully turned towards him, facing him completely.

She smiled sweetly; a beautiful, fleeting smile that made it seem like she was a child that won a giant stuffed giraffe.

"You know what my answer for you is, Echizen_-kun?_"

He blinked, confused.

"Rejected."

**

* * *

**

Hazel eyes scanned across a thick, well-bind book at an alarming rate.

A lazy, sunny Sunday had Ryoma standing in front of his bookshelf, arms crossed, searching for a certain book.

A book that should explain… things.

It had been a while since Ryoma last took out a dictionary from his overly-organized shelves. The green clothed cover was covered in dust.

After patting the dust off the cover page, Ryoma flipped it open to the direct middle. His index finger ran across the thin, smooth pages, searching for the word he desired.

_Rejection._

His eye twitched, a scowl becoming more apparent on his face with each passing second.

It was a word he hadn't heard in so long that the true definition behind the word had become translucent to him.

…He could hear the devastating word replaying and echoing from the sadistic girl's mouth over and over.

And over.

Damn her, using such a fowl word to him.

To him!

Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on the word at the tip of his finger.

_Reject; the person or thing that is rejected or set aside as inferior in quality._

Ryoma blinked.

_What?_

Inferior in quality.

Set aside. Rejected.

What a horrible vocabulary to be invented for such purposes. Who on earth invented this?

Slowly returning the book to its rightful place on the flawless shelf, Echizen squeezed his eyes shut.

What exactly wasn't likeable about him?

He was smart, foreign smart, but still smart, so that was definitely a bonus. He was incredibly good-looking, no need to state the obvious. And he could play tennis. Heck, he was the tennis prodigy!

What else was there? Something he missed…?

Honestly, Ryoma had no idea what it took to simply fascinate Sasuki Miharu.

She wasn't beautiful, just pretty. She had spontaneous outbursts whenever she saw him, like a fan girl, even if it was for different reasons.

Sasuki Miharu was just so painfully plain.

And yet, somehow, she managed to stand out, like a white splatter in black paint.

The more he got to know her, the more difficult it became.

For him, at least. Who knows what was going through her mind?

Ryoma sighed, weighing each of his options.

No one had ever said _no_ to him. They had no reason to. There was no way they could.

What options could he even choose from?

Fine then, if he didn't have any options then he'd just have to limit _her_ options.

Now that was much easier.

Smirking, he thought about all the people she talked to. Well, that he actually remembered.

Hmm, that one girl that was always with her, they were like magnets. What was her name? Shinani? Shikari? No, what was it?

_Shiori! _How did he forget? He had heard about her from most of the school gossip. That girl knew so much around school it was like she had mind-reading powers.

Now she was definitely someone Miharu would invite to the banquet. Without a doubt, Miharu was going to either ask her or already had, Shiori being her best friend at all… So he was assuming.

Another obstacle was Kaoru.

To be honest, Ryoma had never really talked with the snake-like tennis player about anything other tennis. Kaoru's hobbies, likes, dislikes… It was completely unknown to Echizen. Well, he got the gist of the basic details. Like, well, the way Kaoru usually acts.

It is totally obvious that he is not a social person.

Duh. Even a half blind old fool could tell from six miles away.

It actually surprised Ryoma to no end when the snake man had voted for Miharu during the election that he helped her win. (He was so going to keep rubbing that in as a reminder.)

Speaking of which, he helped her win her election! She was going to the banquet thanks to him in the first place!

Ryoma snorted. What an ungrateful girl.

It didn't matter though. The challenge had been set and he intended to see it through… Especially after being rejected for the one girl he didn't believe was worth it.

_You're a fool, Miss Parking Lot._

Ryoma smirked, planning his next course of action.

Removing the obstacles, of course. No hesitation.

**

* * *

**

The first thing Echizen Ryoma did when he arrived at school was search the classrooms for Miharu's friend, Shiori.

Honestly, it didn't take long, all he had to do was use his _sources._

"Excuse me, do you know what classroom Shiori is in?"

The random brown haired girl stared at him, a blush apparent in her cheeks. She was clearly surprised that Ryoma Echizen was the one verbally communicating with him."

"Shiori Saeki? Uhm, I think she's in the classroom right next door."

He smiled back, it was necessary to preserve his reputation. "Thank you."

The girl stared back dreamily as he left her to search for Shiori.

Honestly, Ryoma didn't plan this out perfectly, but hey, no one was perfect. Miharu's friend might not even be at school this early to hear him out.

Worse of all, what if she was just like Miharu? Heavens knows he didn't need _another_ one of that stupid female! One of her was more than enough, he could not stand two rejecting him in less than a day.

Still, it was simple, he just wanted to make sure Miharu herself had _no one_ to ask to the banquet.

Shiori and Kaoru were the most likely candidates. The rest? Well, just tell some guys to back off and some girls that he would _appreciate it_ if they refuse her offer, if she asked.

So really, it was simple… Just not that well planned out.

"Whoa. Ryoma Echizen in front of our classroom? This is a nice change."

Ryoma blinked. In front of the doorway, a rather petite, black haired girl stood.

_Ooh, she's quite the character, pretty too._

"And you are?"

The girl crossed her arms. "Shiori, Miharu's friend. And in case you don't remember, Miharu was your guard for your first few days in school. And… well, the Publicist for Student Council."

Well, this was convenient, he didn't even have to ask around to find Shiori. Instead, she appeared before him…

"I know who Sasuki-san is, no need to remind me. As a matter of fact, I'm here to ask a favor regarding her."

Shiori's eyebrow rose with interest. "Oh? What kind of favor?"

"I'm sure you're been informed of the Student Council banquet. You see-"

Suddenly, Shiori laughed, interrupting him. "You want to ask her but she said no. Therefore, you want me to say no to her when she asks me, correct?"

Ryoma blinked. "Uh, yeah. How did you know?"

The black haired girl shrugged. "Who knows? It seemed kind of obvious, to me at least… And don't worry about it, I've already been invited by a _wonderful_ gentleman."

There was a short pause in their conversation. Ryoma didn't know how to take it.

_So, I guess that settles it. One down, one to go?_

"I suggest you talk to Kaoru if you want to ask her though. They've been friends for a while, she's likely to ask him to accompany her if she's left with no options."

Ryoma smiled lightly. "I figured that, I was going to the tennis courts right after I talked to you, Saeki-san."

"Call me Shiori," she said, smiling back. "No need for formalities among allies."

He blinked again. "Allies?"

"I guess you can say I approve of working with you for the same goal. You know, to get Miharu as your date to the banquet."

A pause.

"But honestly," Shiori continued. "I don't approve of _you_ just yet. You're no way close to the kind of guy she likes. And just by your popularity with the ladies alone, you don't suit her. Still, it doesn't hurt to try it out for once, right?"

Ryoma laughed, not sure if it was a compliment or a grave insult.

He was pretty sure it was an insult, but whatever.

Shiori truly was the most interesting character he ever seen. She was precise in her accusations. They were blunt, maybe, but it was the complete truth.

"Shiori-san, I realize that I'm the last one she'd probably like when the world explodes into pieces, but I'd also like you to know…"

He left a pause, debating how he would state his true intentions.

"I am in no way attached to her or trying to 'catch her.' You say I'm not her type? Well, truth it, she's not my type either."

Ryoma didn't miss the way Shiori's eyes narrowed.

"Then why do you go through such measures to ensure a simple banquet date?"

He smirked. "She deems unworthy. She doesn't know what I'm capable of. I believe we call this… _proving someone wrong_?"

"You intend to have her play along in your stupid game?" Shiori let out a dry laugh. "I don't even need to interfere, she can break you by herself. If she can't, she'll just tell Kaoru to break your legs… So uh, be careful of that part."

Ryoma chuckled. "You seem to trust your friend."

"Is that sarcasm, Ryoma-san?"

"Not in any way."

Shiori giggled. "Yes, I'll trust her with my future husband if I have to. Her and only her because she's the only one that would return the favor. Not just to me, but to Kaoru as well. If she trusts you, you'll be one of the happiest people in the world."

He paused. Sasuki Miharu didn't seem _that_ great. She was just so… normal.

"Anyways, I have to meet with Shin-kun. You should go see Kaoru, Ryoma-kun."

Ryoma nodded. _Kaoru seems more of a problem, actually._

Waving a quick goodbye to Miharu's interesting friend, Ryoma headed for the tennis courts.

He still had a bit of time before school starts. He could get the job done.

**

* * *

**

Miharu arrived at school on a fresh, clean Monday in an utter state of bafflement.

…Because there he sat, in his desk reading a thick looking book, basked in all his fan girl glory.

Prince Echizen-sama had finally gotten to school _before_ her! This calls for a celebration!

Oh, and even better, he wasn't even asleep!

Improvement. Maybe even Echizen can improve.

"Good morning, Sasuki. Why are you just standing there staring at me?"

She blinked.

She was so not _staring_ at _him!_

"I wasn't staring at you."

He smirked. "Alright then, why were you visually facing my direction?"

Miharu rolled her eyes as she walked to her desk, which happened to be next to Echizen.

"I hope you know that didn't even make any sense, stupid. Visually facing? What does that even mean?"

Echizen turned back toward his book that after getting a good glance, Miharu noticed it was the _Romeo and Juliet_ textbook all the students were assigned with at the beginning of the school year.

Honestly, what's with all the textbooks and assignments anyways? Teachers at Seishun really liked to emphasize the _pointlessness._ Seriously, does it even make sen-

"It doesn't make sense to _you_, Sasuki. A lot of things don't."

She barely had time to register the insult, and when she didn't respond, Echizen faced her in question.

_Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet!_ She didn't memorize any of the lines at all!

"Let me guess," Echizen snickered. "You forgot to study."

Miharu inwardly slapped herself.

"Of course I studied!"

He smirked. "Oh, really?"

"Just shut up, Echizen."

There was a pause as Miharu seated herself at her desk and dug out her textbook from her backpack. Not that she intended to continue the conversation with the obnoxious jerk, anyways.

"You know," Echizen suggested. "I could help you-"

"No."

He blinked.

_What an immediate reply… _

"It would bring you great shame to be seen with someone as lonely as me, almighty Lord. No need to take pity," Miharu continued, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

_Brutally honest too…_

Fine. Two could play at this game. He was in a _great_ mood after talking to Kaoru, after all.

"Sasuki-san, I hope you realize that with my influence over Akira-sensei, I could easily _suggest_ that we need a major test on this book. Perhaps I could persuade her to throw a pop quiz today too."

Miharu's eye immediately widened in sheer horror.

"Y-You can't! There's no way you could-"

Echizen smiled sweetly. He had so won this battle.

"Oh, but I'm pretty sure Akira-sensei simply _adores_ me. She says I'm just like the son she never had."

Scowling, Miharu turned away from Echizen. _Son? Son, my ass. More like the little pretty boyfriends she wanted when she was a teenager._

Echizen leaned towards her, catching her attention.

"Let's make a deal."

He watched as she hesitated for once, not simply blurting out a rejection.

"_Echizen. She'll say no to you, even if you limit your options, she'll still say no."_

Hn. Kaoru thought he knew her that well? Fine, he'll just have to prove Kaoru wrong too.

Finally, Miharu answered. "What kind of deal?"

"I'll help you study, lend you my notes, and well, why not _delay_ some quizzes assigned for this unit?"

He could tell she was clearly shocked judging by her wide eyes.

"And what do I have to go in return?"

He smirked in triumph.

"_Don't play with her, Echizen."_

He would do whatever damn he wanted to do.

_A laugh. "What? You think that kind of person would fall for me? Where did all your trust in her go, Kaoru?"_

_He rolled his eyes at him. "You strike me as the kind of person that could hurt her unconsciously with your stupidity."_

Kaoru was so dead for calling him stupid…

_Anger. "At least I'm not a coward. I can make her fall for me harder than the years of friendship you have together."_

_Kaoru nearly burst into laughter. "You? Have fun with that and keep dreaming, kid."_

And their conversation just ended. Like that, nothing else.

Kaoru simply agreed he wouldn't accept Miharu's offer, if she asked.

It was actually much simpler that Ryoma thought it would be.

Suddenly, Miharu interrupted his flashback. "Well? What do I need to do in return, Lord Dearest?"

He had almost forgotten what he was going to say.

"Oh, go to the banquet with me."

And then, there was an anticipated pause. A very irritating pause.

…Followed by wide eyes and a horrified expression.

Ryoma already foresaw she'd be hesitant, and well, slightly disgusted.

Instead, she asked a simple question. "Why?"

"Because, I can prove everything you think about me wrong."

Miharu made a disapproving face. "You're putting me and _you_ through this hell just to prove me wrong? Did a tennis ball hit you in the wrong area, Echizen?""

He frowned, not actually expecting an insult. "I really don't see why you still refuse. You have no one to ask and the banquet is in less than a week. Besides, I'll even help you study."

"…You make it sound like I _want_ to spend time with you."

A smirk. "Oh, so you don't want to?"

She rolled her eyes at him again in annoyance. "I can always ask Shiori."

_As if I can ask Shiori! She's going with Shin…_

"Shiori's already attending the banquet with someone," Ryoma countered, already anticipating she would say that.

She paused for a fraction of a second. "Fine. Kaoru, then."

Ryoma grinned.

It was about time she brought up the topic of Kaoru.

"He's not an option; he's busy that day with tennis preparations."

And that definitely did the trick because in a split second, she stared back at him in fury.

"You… How do you know that!"

"Well," Ryoma replied, calmly. "I asked him this morning. He said he was busy and that he wasn't interest anyways."

Hah. Yeah, right. Kaoru wasn't interested? More like he didn't even know about it.

"_She has a banquet for Student Council? Why would you need a banquet for something so pointless?"_

_Eye roll. "School rules, and you are required to bring someone too."_

_A scoff. "What stupid rules we have sometimes."_

_Ryoma paused. He never realized it before, but Kaoru and Miharu's thought process were terribly similar._

"_Well, I have training with Inui that day. I couldn't go anyways."_

_Grin. Here was his opportunity. All obstacles were either cleared, busy, or taken._

_Perfect. The pieces were in place. He just needed to bribe Miharu a bit more…_

"So, what do you say, Sasuki-san?"

Ryoma could tell she desperately wanted to refuse.

…Which made it all the more tempting to take her as his date.

"…Fine, Echizen. I'll go to the damn banquet with you."

He felt his heart tremble in sheer triumph at her acceptance, albeit unwilling.

"But! I'm barely seventeen, Echizen. Don't you dare try anything funny!"

There was a pause. Ryoma wrinkled his nose.

"Try anything funny? With you? I'm not that tempted too, Sasuki."

As expected, she glared at him heartily and proceeded in ignoring him.

So, he decided to ask some questions, just to bother her."So, where do you live? I'll come pick you up."

She didn't look at him as she replied. "If you really want to know, go look in the school directory. If you don't, just drive yourself there and I'll walk."

Ryoma paused, not being able to decipher her logic. "Sasuki, if I didn't want to know, why would I ask?"

She smirked. "Oh? I thought you asked out of politeness but then I remembered you don't possess anything like that."

His eyes narrowed. "You really like to push yourself across thin ice, don't you?"

"Oh, why not. Life's just so exciting when you have the school's most desirable male blackmailing you just to prove himself right."

A silence extended over them.

_Does she really hate me this much?_

Fine. Be that way. He wasn't even blackmailing her either.

Well, at least she admit he was the most desirable male of the school. Good, an improvement.

"That's exactly what I was thinking too," Ryoma added, moving with the flow. "It's much more entertaining to invite the girl who obstinately refuses to go rather than the girl who asks me herself, don't you think?"

She scowled. "Keep up that logic and you'll take the hard road down life."

"And yet, here I am. Providing _you_ with the easy road while you reject it. Who should be talking now?"

He heard a light sigh escape her lips as she chose to end the conversation and ignore him.

Whatever. He got what he wanted anyways.

. . .

So why does it feel like he lost in every way possible?

**

* * *

**

_Miharu's POV_

I can't believe him. Honestly.

Now I actually had to go buy a dress to wear.

And truth is, that was my main concern.

_What in the world am I supposed to wear, damnit!_

I was planning to well, burrow a suit from Kaoru and ask my sister to fill in the role as my guest. With a female guest coming with me, I should be allowed to wear a dress right?

The whole world doesn't need to know how hideous I look with a dress on.

"You'll be fine, nee-chan," My sister, Mekari reassured me for the umpteenth time.

I rolled my eyes. She honestly didn't understand my situation.

"Look at this Mekari! I have fat in my arms – and my _armpits!_"

While I was freaking out, my sister sighed. "Nee-chan, I can't see, but I'm sure that everyone has armpit fat like that. It's typical unless you train yourself to grow it into muscle."

I blinked.

_I can't believe I forgot she was blind._

"Oh. Well, fat is fat. Doesn't make a difference. A strapless is definitely out of limits."

A scoff. "Wow. Seriously? I hope you realize that chuck of human tissue is _supposed _to be there. It's _not fat, _nee-chan. Just wear a strapless, ask Shiori-san to take you shopping. Tomorrow. No later."

_Wow, the younger sister is bullying the older one…_

I chose to remain silent as she brooded in the kitchen, watching Mekari prepare dinner.

My mother was out, working night shift again.

Honestly, it didn't even bother us anymore. As long as no one comes to murder them overnight, we were completely fine.

"So nee-chan," Mekari asked, once again starting a conversation. "I've actually heard a few rumors about Ryoma-san before. What is he like?"

Again, I blinked. "You've heard about him? From where?"

"Well, he's quite popular in this area ever since he arrived from America, you know. One of my friends from middle school said that he was really good-looking."

Oh, dear, sweet Mekari…

'Good-looking' was such an understatement it should be considered an insult.

But that didn't stop her questions. "So, what is he like? I can't believe he asked you."

_Heh… I wonder that myself. Why the hell did he ask me?_

As for what he's like…?

_My dear, he's an annoying, manipulating, narcissistic, disastrous bastard._

But no, instead I answered, "You wouldn't like him, Mekari."

To _my_ surprise, Mekari frowned.

"I wouldn't like him? But he's so wonderful! I wish I could see what he looks like sometimes. All the girls in my school talk about how dreamy he is and how amazing he is at tennis."

I didn't reply.

…Partly because it was the truth.

_Damn, is his tennis really that great?_

I was so going to ask Echizen how the hell his reputation extended to the middle schools tomorrow. Even my sister thought he was just oh, so _wonderful._

…And she was blind too. She was missing out his most attractive feature and she _still_ thinks he's wonderful. Talk about frustrating.

"You're so lucky, nee-chan. He's like a prince from what I've heard."

_No, that is a complete lie. All he cares about is proving me wrong._

"And he asked you! Of all the pretty girls at Seishun. You should be happy."

_Oh, I'm simply overjoyed._

"Well, _I'm _happy. It's about time you hung out with someone other than Kaoru-kun. I know you like him as a friend and all of that, but geez, you're already seventeen, nee-chan!"

I pouted. "My age has nothing to do with my disinterest in romance."

"Whatever you say, nee-chan. You're just afraid you're being used and that he'll throw you away like dad."

My eyes narrowed immediately. She just had to dredge that up, didn't she?

"That has nothing to do with it," I answered calmly. "Echizen isn't the kind of person that would be serious in this kind of… thing."

It was so obvious he was playing me. Well, fine then, it's not like I was going to grow attached to him anyways.

I mean, look at that bastard! Telling Kaoru off when he was my last savior to turn to! He seriously had such an unlikeable personality. It didn't match his appearance at all.

"Well, why not just enjoy yourself for just this once if you're going to go? I mean, might as well, right? It's not every day you get asked to a banquet by Ryoma Echizen. If it's going to happen once and only once, have fun with it."

I smirked at the truth behind her words.

_It's like she's telling me to be glad it's happened._

"I do appreciate his offer," I replied. _And his offer to help me in school…_ "As a matter of fact, I think I'll just take advantage of the situation and have fun with it."

_That was totally a lie, but whatever. _

"You should, nee-chan. Just get it over with and your life will be back to normal."

I smiled. "Of course."

If Echizen was going to play me, then so be it.

I'll just have fun being played.

And after that, we'll be going our own ways. Hopefully.

Of course, I'll still see him around school, but no one could help that. And it wouldn't even be a big deal either. He's a popular guy, he'll get over it.

"I'm going to go study," I declared, distracting myself from all thoughts regarding Echizen.

Besides, I desperately needed to study. I don't know about you but I sure wouldn't want to humiliate myself in front of Echizen.

"Okay, nee-chan, dinner's not ready anyways. Just, uhm, remember what I said okay? Don't take this too seriously. If he isn't, you shouldn't either."

Smiling, I left her alone with her fabulous cooking.

Her words had an infinite amount of sense in them.

Well, if Echizen was going to have fun with this, I would too. And then when it's over, we can both say it was a mutually fun experience.

…Okay, whatever. It didn't matter because I _really_ need to study.

If I failed _Romeo and Juliet, _my mom probably wouldn't even let me attend the banquet much less be Publicist.

Grabbing the book out of my backpack, I carelessly slammed it on my desk.

_Romeo and Juliet_ would be a harder war to battle than Echizen any day.

Flipping it open to a random page, I began reading whatever I could actually read.

In about five minutes of decipher ancient English words, I realized that failing the major test was actually becoming a possibility now.

…Maybe asking Echizen would be a fantastic idea indeed. Especially since he had the God forsaken power to assign a pop quiz in place of a teacher.

What a terrifying man.

Sighing, I continued reading about some scene where one guy stabs another with a sword.

Wait, no. A _rapier._

What noobs, everyone knows that light sabers are the new style.

Getting back on topic, I continued my struggle to read.

It didn't help that I considered just blowing the entire thing off and making Echizen teach me just to hold off his part of the deal.

If I failed after he taught me, I was so going to steal his tennis racket and blackmail him.

Come to this of it, I've never actually seen Echizen play tennis...

No, no, I'm supposed to be studying. No more thoughts on Echizen, he's such a brain-fryer.

I groaned, stretching my arms out in front of me.

Tonight was going to be one hell of a night.

…And, evidently, I was supposed to be dress shopping with Shiori tomorrow.

Oh yes, life was simply perfect in its own ironic way.

**

* * *

**

Somehow, I think I wrote Ryoma to be sort of OOC. I mean, I stopped reading the manga for a while now, so…

Oh well. This is fanfiction, I'll write him how I like him! :D

But seriously, is he OOC? D:

_Reviews, my hunnies? :3_

Oh, just a quick thing here.

For those of you that watch/read Vampire Knight (despite the cheesy plot) – Who do you like better, Zero or Kaname?

…Or do you just prefer them gay together? O.o


End file.
